Singapore — A woman has said online that controversial blogger Xiaxue has filed an Expedited Protection Order and a Stop Publication Order against her.
The woman has sought legal help and reports that she is being represented pro bono by the firm of noted lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam.
Xiaxue, who is 36 and also known as Wendy Cheng, has been making waves online for many years and has quite a following. She has had a resurgence of sorts this year.
In July, she wrote an Instagram story about Workers’ Party politician Raeesah Khan that said: “Oops guess it wasn’t a good idea to stir up racist sentiments was it? I’m not a fan of the lack of freedom of speech we have in Sg, but I love it that whether you post woke or anti-woke comments, the gov’t is gonna come after you all the same…. stop fielding radical feminists/leftist as candidates ffs we don’t need their poison infecting our politics.”
Two police reports were filed against Ms Khan for comments she made online in 2018 and this year concerning race and religion. She has since apologised publicly more than once and was given a stern warning by the police on Sept 17.
On the same day, the police said they would not be taking action against Xiaxue.
Some people who were unhappy with Xiaxue’s IG story about Ms Khan called for a boycott of the blogger. This led to the hashtag #PunishXiaxue to trend and there were calls for companies to drop her as an endorser. A number of them did.
Xiaxue, however, may not be done with the matter quite yet. On Thursday (Sept 24), a woman going by Black Lives Matter @elouease on Twitter announced that the blogger had taken legal action against her.
She wrote:
Hi everyone.
On the evening of 21 July 2020, I was served with papers by DC LAW, who act for Xiaxue, informing me that Xiaxue has successfully applied for an Expedited Protection Order against me. 1/x
— Black Lives Matter (@elouease) September 24, 2020
While the details surrounding the legal action Xiaxue has taken against @elouease have been scant, the latter described herself as “a 21-year old student with no prior legal experience” and wrote that the experience has not been a “pleasant” one.
She then found out that the blogger had filed another order against her, after which she engaged the legal firm of Mr Thuraisingam to represent her. It is acting for her pro bono.
A few days later, I was served with a further set of papers, informing me that Xiaxue had successfully applied for an Interim Stop Publication Order against me.
I then engaged the services of Eugene Thuraisingam LLP to act on my behalf in relation to both these matters. 3/x— Black Lives Matter (@elouease) September 24, 2020
@elouease added more details about her experience
Before the first PTC, XX's solicitors took out a summons application to ask that the Expedited Protection Order be extended. My lawyers resisted this application, as they found it to be unmeritorious. In the midst of the hearing, Xiaxue’s solicitors withdrew the application. 5/x
— Black Lives Matter (@elouease) September 24, 2020
As such, both of these orders have since lapsed. However, the proceedings are still ongoing as Xiaxue still seeks a Protection Order and a Stop Publication Order against me.
6/x— Black Lives Matter (@elouease) September 24, 2020
She added that it has been “a wild ride” and thanked those who have supported her.
I will continue to keep all of you notified of any developments in relation to these proceedings.
Until then, stay safe and fight the good fight.
8/end
— Black Lives Matter (@elouease) September 24, 2020
@elouease wrote that she could not write much about the context of the legal proceedings as they are still ongoing.
I'm sorry about the lack of context in my last posts, but due to the ongoing legal proceedings there is information i cannot mention or disclose. thank you so much for your support and kindness, i'll let you all know about any updates when they come along <3
— Black Lives Matter (@elouease) September 24, 2020
However, one clue as to why @elouease ended up in Xiaxue’s crosshairs is that she had tweeted on July 10: “all brands and labels that have dropped xiaxue. now in collage form”. This was picked up and published by the Malay Mail and the Malaysia edition of Yahoo! news.
The tweet is no longer available. /TISG
Read also: Xiaxue asks how she can be more “privileged” than Raeesah Khan
Xiaxue asks how she can be more “privileged” than Raeesah Khan