By Letter to the Today newspaper:
Letter from Amanda Lee
FOLLOWING the recent murder of Republic Polytechnic (RP) student Darren Ng, who was reportedly stabbed following a staring incident on Halloween, a Facebook group was started, named “Why students of Republic Polytechnic keep on dying?” (sic).
Last I checked, there were 2,013 members, with the number growing quickly.
A photo of Darren is currently being used as the profile photo of the page. But instead of words of comfort, some of the comments are downright repulsive.
Shockingly, some people actually “like” such comments, rather than flagging them as inappropriate.
In addition, this page has become a platform for (often anonymous) members of the public to defame the school.
The Facebook group contains information such as the names of RP students who have died, as well as details on their cases.
Can anything be done about this Facebook page? Instead of feeling sympathetic about the sad situation, netizens seem to be treating it as a joke.
I hope the public will be sensitive to the feelings of the victim’s families, as well as that of the innocent students at RP. It is really disappointing to see some people’s reactions to the incident.
I hope the Facebook page can be shut down immediately.