100 Dictating the Internet: Cases of Jolovan Wham and John Tan In October 2018, civil rights activist Jolovan Wham Kwok Han and opposition politician John Tan Liang Joo were the first persons convicted under section 3(1)(a) of the AJPA. Wham was convicted for a post he had made on his Facebook profile in April 2018, stating that “Malaysia’s judges are more independent than Singapore’s for cases with political implications”, following which the Attorney-General’s Office began committal proceedings against him. Tan was convicted following a post he made on his Facebook profile in May 2018, stating “By charging Jolovan for scandalising the judiciary, the AGC only confirms what he said was true”.364 In April 2019, both men were fined S$5,000 (approx. USD 3,685). Wham and Tan were further ordered to pay the Attorney-General’s Chambers S$7,298 (approx. USD 5,378) and S$6,966 (approx. USD 5,133) respectively in legal costs and disbursements.365 Malaysia In Malaysia, the contempt of court doctrine has been misapplied in a manner similar to Singapore to curtail comments made about the judiciary in public interest. Such misapplication has often targeted and controlled the free expression of lawyers, in their role as officers of the court, in contravention of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.366 Article 10 of Malaysia’s Federal Constitution which guarantees the right to freedom of speech, assembly and association, allows Parliament to impose limitations to this right, under article 10(2)(a), “to provide against contempt of court”.367 Article 126, thereafter, confers upon the Federal Court, 364 AG v Wham Jolovan [2018], at [3] to [6]. 365 Selina Lum, ‘$5,000 fine each for activist Jolovan Wham and SDP’s John Tan for contempt of court’, Straits Times, 29 April 2019, Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courtscrime/5000-fine-each-for-activist-jolovan-wham-and-sdps-john-tan-for-contempt-of; In 2008, Wham was sentenced to 15 days’ imprisonment for contempt of court for wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a kangaroo dressed in judicial robes at the High Court. See Louisa Tang, ‘Contempt of court: AGC seeks fine for activist Jolovan Wham, jail time for opposition party member’, Today, 20 March 2019, Available at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/contempt-of-court-agc-seeksfine-activist-jolovan-wham-jail-time-opposition-party-member 366 See A. Vijayalakshmi Venugopal, Kamal Halili Hassan, ‘The Law of Contempt of Court in Malaysia: Considering Reforms’ (2012) Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(8), pp. 1451-1464 (‘Venugopal and Hassan, 2012’) Available at: http://www.aensiweb.com/old/anas/2012/14511464.pdf 367 Federal Constitution of Malaysia, Available at: http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/