Singapore

𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐨𝐦𝐢 𝐓𝐚𝐧 , aged 𝟏𝟗 (𝟔 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟓 – 𝟗 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒)

“𝐼 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐷𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛. 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒.

𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝑊𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.” - Tan Chin Shin, mother of the late Dorothy. 

How do you come to terms with the loss of your beloved daughter?

Dorothy was 19 and about to begin a new journey at the Yong Pung How School of Law at Singapore Management University in August 2024.

Dorothy was a linguist. She learnt French in secondary school and mastered Japanese during her junior college days at Raffles Institution. 

On May 16, 2024, at the Ministry of Education Language Centre (MOELC) 42nd Annual Prize Presentation Ceremony, Dorothy, the Valedictorian, received the Japanese Ambassador’s Trophy, the highest honour bestowed by the Embassy of Japan, from His Excellency, Mr Hiroshi Ishikawa, Ambassador of Japan to Singapore.

She did not know it then, but it was her last award. 

She had a dream. She wanted to follow in her father‘s footsteps and become a distinguished lawyer.

But, it was not to be. 

On the fateful morning of June 8, 2024, Dorothy was believed to be on her way home after her gym lessons when she was struck by a van, driven by lab technician Woo Jie Yu, 24, while crossing Joo Chiat Road, a two-way road near the Rising Court apartment building.

Reportedly, the impact threw her more than 10 metres away. She was motionless. 

A day later, after being declared brain dead, she was taken off life support. She died on June 9, 2024, at around 1.40am at Changi General Hospital.

Her boundless potential was extinguished in that instance. 

It was later found that Dorothy did not check for traffic from the lane closer to her.

It was too late when she stepped onto the road.

The Tans lost their only daughter. The immense pain of losing a daughter - it made no sense to them.

Forgiveness, as it is typically understood, defies our ethical vocabulary and destabilises our moral foundations.

When a law or code demands some recompense for wrong, how can we obligate or encourage the setting aside of that recompense?

In court on January 27, 2025, Mdm Tan Chin Shin expressed her hope that the driver would not face criminal action for the accident that took her daughter’s life.

“We don’t want vengeance.”

Her words were tender, valuable, beautiful and a sort of reckoning.

She sought closure in court.

She resolved to comfort and assuage.

Many hurt and traumatised people have found healing and closure through a resolve and commitment to forgive.

There are others who, while turning their back on hatred, vengeance and poetic justice, have not necessarily found recovery through forgiveness.

Therein lies the issue.

How did Chin Shin muster the strength to utter those words in a court of law?

We might never know. She was not obliged to do so.

She might have found peace through that act, reflecting a reality that she cannot change.

She probably recognised that if hate is left unchecked, it may eventually corrode.

She sought leniency and not vengeance.

It might have enabled her to move past hurt and grief, freed her from resentment, fostered empathy and understanding towards the person who had wronged her family.

This is a first-person testimony from the recesses of her heart.

In doing so, Chin Shin forms part of the collective memory of the communities she belongs to and helps them reshape how they view the world and the mistakes we, as humans, make.

She made us consider the value and limits of forgiveness and, in turn, restoration for herself.

As John 9: 25 puts it, “I was blind, but now I see.”

Forgiveness and reconciliation are not a single act. It is a process.

It is messy and grows out of damage, but it is also potentially a healing balm.

With her words, Chin Shin shone a light into the recesses of our hearts.

It was also a last act of love towards her beloved daughter.

In the words of Mark Twain, “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Ultimately, forgiveness is not about forgiving the act but the imperfections inherent in all of us.

In court on January 27, 2025, Chin Shin bore her brokenness and showed us her humanity.

For that, we are thankful. 

Thank you, Chin Shin!