This site (http://wayangparty.com/?p=6191)
just published the entry below:
By Eugene Yeo
Attached below is an extract of Dr Allan Ooi’s email sent to his
family and friends before his death. It was sent to us by his
friend:
To: Wayang Party Editors
His suicide letter attached. Blackout from media on
this. An inquiry into his supervisors and the whole scholarship
process in the SAF should be demanded, someone lost a precious
son/friend/brother.
We have elected to reproduce only relevant parts of Dr Allan
Ooi’s email. In the last few days, the mainstream media, especially
the Chinese dailies have been speculating about the cause of
his death.
The Straits Times suggested it was due
to over-indulgence in online war games. Lianhe
Wanbao claimed that he committed suicide because he lost heavily in
gambling. Shin Ming wrote that it may due to some relationship
issues. None of these were true.
Like the smear campaign directed against David Widjaja, the
mainstream media had been concocting all kinds of
unsubstantiated tales to distract attention from the authorities
which have yet to provide us with a satisfactory explanation.
The SPH journalists are aware of the content of Dr Allan Ooi’s
email. Why didn’t they report the real reason behind his suicide
and instead throw all kinds of smoke-bombs to mislead
Singaporeans?
In his email below, Dr Allan Ooi stated explicitly that the
main reason why he decided to end his life is due to work-related
issues:
SAF needs to answer the following questions arising from Dr
Allan Ooi’s email:
1. What does Dr Allan Ooi mean by his statement
“How can a bond be
unbreakable?” Did he inform SAF of his intention to
break his bond and was told that he was not allowed to do so?
2. In the next sentence, Dr Allan Ooi wrote
“How can it be extended at
will by an administration simply by passing a
paper?” SAF needs to explain why Dr Allan Ooi’s
bond was extended. Did they consult Dr Allan Ooi and seek his
acquiesence before the decision was made?
3. Dr Allan Ooi was very angry at the unfortunate turn of
events - the extending of his bond and not allowing to
break it, which drove him into utter despair and hopelessness
culminating in his eventual decision to end his own life to get
away from it all. What was the nature of his work at SAF?
Who was his immediate superior or supervisor? How could he
not detect the problems his subordinate was having at work? Is
there any system in place to attend to scholars who have
encountered problems in the course of their work?
4. Dr Allan Ooi made the fateful decision to end his life 5
months after leaving Singapore. SAF claimed it was unable to
contact him, but surely the authorities must have emailed him and
what were the contents of the email? Dr Allan Ooi left Singapore
initially to escape from the pressure-cooker environment he was in.
Were there any other factors which cause him to come to this
decision in the end?
How can a promising young doctor who went through 6
rigorous years of medical studies and housemanship be so
traumatized by his work that he had to AWOL and leave his family
and friends to be alone by himself in a foreign land? How did
SAF allow such a preventable tragedy to happen to its soldier?
We have not heard a single official statement from SAF, not even
a word of sympathy or condolence so far. Dr Allan Ooi was a
SAF scholar. He worked in SAF as a medical officer upon obtaining
his medical degree and most importantly he was driven to suicide
due to anguish, despair and stress arising from his work. How
can SAF exonerate itself from its pastoral responsibility as if it
has nothing to do with him?
As one of our readers, Agape Xue wrote on our blog:
“There seems to be a recent trend that many young scholars are
taking their lives for granted, and commit suicides at the instance
of meeting obstacles in their studies or career pursuit.
This is a very worrying phenomenon seemingly having its
undesirable influence on today’s bright youngsters. This trend must
be checked. Young people need to treasure their lives more,, need
to know that they not only have a responsibility to themselves,
they also need to know that they have a responsibility ensure that
their parents live no guilt in raising them.
What pain is there more destructive to all parents to have to
see to the funeral of their children.”
There is nobody to blame for Dr Allan Ooi’s untimely death and
now is certainly not the time for pointing fingers. We need to know
what exactly happen so that we will not see a repeat of such
tragedies again.
To recall the cryptic last words of Dr Allan Ooi:
“To the people within this system, please change it to
better benefit yourselves and future generations, instead of
creating a self-perpetuating cycle of at best, painful obligation,
and at worst, utter despair.”
