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 ©The
Sunday Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Debbie Yong
Blogger Wendy Cheng is standing firm on her decision
not to apologise to fellow blogger Dawn Yang. Ms Cheng was served a lawyer's
letter by Ms Yang seeking a public apology and a proposal of damages two weeks
ago.
Blogger Wendy Cheng, better known online as Xiaxue, is
standing firm on her decision not to apologise to fellow blogger Dawn Yang.
Two weeks ago, Ms Cheng, 23, was served a lawyer's letter by Ms Yang, also 23,
over allegedly defamatory remarks made about the latter in a blog entry she
wrote on June 30.
The letter sought a public apology and a proposal of damages.
Last Tuesday, Ms Cheng said that she will not accede to the demands.
She also posted scanned images of Ms Yang's lawyer's letter on her blog 'to
prove to readers that this is not a publicity stunt', she told The Sunday
Times yesterday.
Lawyers from KhattarWong, whom Ms Yang had engaged, told Ms Cheng last week to
remove the post as it was 'malicious' and 'copyright infringement'.
But Ms Cheng's lawyers from Keystone Law Corporation have refuted this, saying
that her post was not put up with malice, and that the letter contained no
creative content to qualify as copyright infringement.
The post is still on her blog.
'I am not interested in any settlement. There's nothing much to talk about any
more; look at what has developed since then,' said Ms Cheng, referring to online
forums and entries on blogs that have sprung up since their tussle made
headlines.
Three blogs dedicated to tracking the spat have been created anonymously.
Some netizens have also derided Ms Yang for plagiarising blog entries on her own
website, as well as on Stomp, the online media portal she blogs for.
Her alleged sources include Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's 2006 National Day
Rally speech as well as comments made by the founder of Marvel Comics, Mr Stan
Lee.
On the plagiarism issue, Ms Yang admitted her mistake and apologised to her
readers in a New Paper report on Friday.
She said in the report that she 'did not do this intentionally' as she did not
think then that citations were necessary.
Asked about this, Ms Yang said yesterday: 'I don't wish to go on about it
anymore. I think their true agenda is not plagiarism or protecting the rights of
writers, but attacking me as a person. There's a fine line between gossiping
about people in the limelight and cyberbullying.'
She added, in a calm tone, that it was hurtful and unnecessary for netizens to
criticise her character and implicate close friends and family members unrelated
to the dispute.
She will be meeting her lawyers early next week to discuss further action, and
thinks she has 'a strong case' should it boil down to a libel lawsuit.
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Circular No 297/2008
