SINGAPORE – The death of an 11-year-old boy, who fell 17 floors from his bedroom window on the day he was to show his parents his mid-year examination results, was found to be “a deliberate act of suicide” on Friday (Oct 21).

In his findings, State Coroner Marvin Bay urged parents and educators to remind children that “their efforts in study may not always yield a commensurate result, and also that such failures are transient or temporary events”.

He added: “Parents and educators should also constantly reassure them that they will always be there to help the child through each stumble, winding turn and setback in their education journey.”

The boy, referred as Master H, was a Primary 5 pupil who had never failed in any of his subjects. But students transitioning from Primary 4 to Primary 5 would generally have a dip in their results. Changes in their examination format are meant to prepare them for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), the court heard.

On May 12, Master H got back his examination papers for English language, Mathematics, Chinese language and Higher Chinese. Out of a score of 100, the boy got 50, 20.5, 53.8 and 12 marks respectively.

On May 14, his mother bought him a kite, after he told her his examination results were “average”. In previous years, he had gotten an average of 70 marks for his subjects. The next day, a Sunday, he went to fly the kite with his father.

The court heard that the mother would cane the boy’s palm lightly, for every mark he fell short of her stipulated standard of 70 per cent.

On May 16, the boy got back his science examination paper. He scored 57.5 out of 100 for it.

On the morning of May 18, the mother saw the boy in his school uniform. But he was supposed to go to school in his physical education attire, as he had a Wushu lesson. She asked him to change his attire.

Shortly after, when his parents found his room door locked, they opened it with a spare key. But they found the boy missing.

They then saw him lying at the foot of the block. A paramedic pronounced the boy dead at 7am.

The mother was seen crying and repeatedly saying in Mandarin next to her son: “I only ask for 70 marks, I don’t expect you to get 80 marks.”

Said Mr Bay: “Master H appeared to have difficulty in understanding, and coming to terms with his precipitous fall in his grades. He appeared fearful of revealing his poor grades to his parents …

“In his desperation, he had woven a fictitious account of his grades to preserve an impression that he was coping well, and attaining grades that conformed to their pre-set expectations…. He had tragically taken his own life, rather than face the remainder of the day.”

Helplines

Samaritans of Singapore (24-hour hotline): 1800-221-4444

Tinkle Friend: 1800-274-4788

Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019

Care Corner Counselling Centre (in Mandarin): 1800-353-5800

Mental Health Helpline: 6389-2222

This article was first published on October 21, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Foreigners wanting to participate in the Purple Parade will be more likely to get the green light. The Pink Dot, less so.

The difference between the two: their potential to rile up opinions.

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said that authorities will probably be more “accommodating” about having foreigners get involved in issues such as helping the disabled – the Purple Parade’s cause.

“I think we will probably generally try and be accommodating, unless it is really something that has the potential to rile up opinion on both sides,” he said on Friday (Oct 21) evening. “If you take, say people with disabilities, all of us are in support of helping them and I think that is a cause that the Government is unlikely to say no to anyone taking part and supporting it.”

But, he added: “You can well imagine that there can be other kinds of causes where Singaporeans will sharply divide in their opinions – and that I think should be left for Singaporeans.”

Pink Dot, an annual event to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, is likely to fall under this category.

When asked about the issue of unwed mothers, he replied: “I think we really have to look at it issue by issue.”

The minister’s comments came after his ministry announced Friday afternoon that foreign entities will need a permit if they were to sponsor, promote or get employees and members to participate in events held at the Speakers’ Corner. Foreign entities looking to speak remotely at such events through teleconferencing or pre-recorded messages will also need a permit.

At the same time, the ministry is relaxing rules on Singapore entities, which can soon organise events at Speakers’ Corner without a permit – same as Singaporean citizens.

The revised rules come into play next month (Nov 1).

Mr Shanmugam explained that the move came about because foreign participation in controversial issues relating to Singapore was increasing.

He did not elaborate.

But in June, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that it was reviewing rules on the Speakers’ Corner. This followed the eighth Pink Dot event here – an annual rally for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights – which saw 18 sponsors, including multinationals such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Goldman Sachs and Barclays among others.

Mr Shanmugam said on Friday: “My ministry issued a statement after the Pink Dot event, directly saying that we are going to review because of the foreign sponsorship of Pink Dot events and, at the same time, we said that we will not prohibit Singaporeans from supporting it, organising it and in fact, the fact that we’ve reviewed the rules and making it clear that Singaporeans entities can support the event sets out our stand.”

The minister stressed: “We’re neutral in terms of what people can discuss, or which side people take, or which side of the argument people are supporting or against – we are neutral on that. What we are saying is, where we are drawing the line is Singaporeans (and) non Singaporeans.”

This article was first published on October 21, 2016.
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