On 17 March 2006, the High Court of Singapore has found Dr Chee Soon Juan, the Secretary General of Singapore Democratic Party to be guilty of 2 offences namely contempt in the face of the court and scandalising the Singapore judiciary.
The High Court imposed a jail sentence of one day on Dr Chee and set the fine at S$6000. In default of the fine, Dr Chee has to serve seven day's jail.
Dr Chee chose not to pay, he served a sentence of eight days' imprisonment.
The full judgment is available at the website of the Singapore Supreme Court.
For more photos and discussion, please check out Dr Chee's blog.
The charge on the scandalising the judiciary is rare in the common law world. In UK, none has been successfully brought for more than 60 years.
The HC opined that the geographical size of Singapore renders its court more susceptible to unjustified attack. In other words, the administration of justice in Singapore is more vulnerable than in the UK.
In UK, the position is difference as the act of contempt of court is regulated by Contempt of Court Act 1981 . Moreover, European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has effectively altered the development of law in this area.
For Malaysia, our position is the same as Singapore. There has been numerious charges on contempt of court and scandalising the court. One of the recent case is PP v Zainur Zakaria, the counsel for Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment by the High Court. On appeal, the Federal Court set aside the sentence.
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