Sonia Sui Got Accused Of “Stirring Up Publicity” By An Influencer When She Wrote About An Assault Case To Raise Awareness For Child Sexual Abuse

On Monday (Jun 15), Sonia wrote about a 12-year-old girl who had confided in her about “being violated by an uncle-nephew duo countless times over many years”. She also claimed that she had “met over 20 children who have been sexually assaulted, and many others who have experienced sexual violence”.

Her revelation sent shockwaves throughout the community and led to the Pingtung County Government being bombarded with concerned phone calls. On Wednesday (Jun 17), the Pingtung County Government issued a statement, saying that while they were thankful to Sonia for being so protective of children, they had investigated the matter involving the 12-year-old girl and found that what Sonia described was “inconsistent with the facts”, as it was a case of “indecent assault” and “did not happen multiple times”.

They added that the girl in question has received professional counselling, and went on to question Sonia’s actions. “Publicising a case without the proper verifications can cause speculations, which can harm the children and create a misunderstanding towards the government.”

That same day, Sonia responded with a clarification of her own, saying that the point of her post was to draw attention to the issue of child sexual abuse. She also pointed out that she never mentioned that the 12-year-old girl was “sexually assaulted” and had used the word “violated” instead.

While most netizens appeared to side with Sonia with comments like “Indecent assault is still sexual assault” and “Is there a difference between the type of hurt caused by indecent assault and sexual assault?”, one outspoken figure decided to launch an attack on her.

“I just want to say to Sonia Sui, please do not use a girl’s tragic incident as a tool for you to stir up publicity,” wrote Taiwanese influencer Chen Yee on her Facebook. “If you really cared about cases like that, you would know that whether it is sexual assault or sexual harassment, it will be dealt with in a low-key manner at first in order to protect those involved, and not spread all over social media like that.”

“Just ask any social worker or lawyer, and they will tell you that you can’t disclose information like what Sonia Sui did,” she continued. “Sonia Sui claims to be concerned about such cases, but it is impossible to not have that level of basic knowledge, so she is either wicked or ignorant, choose one.”

Many netizens spoke up in defense of Sonia against these harsh accusations, saying that she never actually revealed any sensitive information about the victims. One netizen also shot back with, “Did you try to properly understand everything? Or do you just have something against [Sonia]?”

Unmoved, Chen Yee replied, “If you are really concerned, you can learn how to help in private, no need to announce it to the world! Especially cases like that! People who really care would know that you can’t make such a rash announcement like that as it can cause great harm to the victim.”

If you have experienced any form of sexual assault or harrassment, you can call AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre at 67790282 or email them at sacc [at] aware.org.sg ().

Photos: Sonia Sui/Facebook, Chen Yee/Facebook