Court Rulings Not Reason For Reform: Geoffrey Ma

Outgoing Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma said on Tuesday that he's not against judicial reform, but spoke out against such calls from people who don't get their way with court judgements.

Speaking at his farewell press conference before retiring, Ma responded to questions about demands for judicial reform from Beijing officials and pro-establishment figures.

"It's not particularly satisfactory – there's a call for reform simply on the basis of a result that one doesn't like. One's got to do a little more than that in order to make good a case for reform," the chief justice said.

"It's certainly not a good starting point, or acceptable, to say, 'I want reforms to ensure that I will always get the result which I want.'"

Ma said many members of the public would find this results-driven reason hard to accept.

He stressed people should come up with more details about their ideas for reform, and the judiciary is always willing to consider ways to improve.

Ma also insisted he or the judiciary faced no pressure from the authorities over the years about court cases.

"Does the judiciary get pressure from the Hong Kong government or Beijing, to decide cases in accordance to what they'd like to see... have I got the pressure in the last 10 years? My answer to you, truthfully, is no."

Ma said sceptics should draw their conclusions on this matter by looking at objective facts.

On whether attacks by mainland state media on the judge who granted bail to national security suspect Jimmy Lai amounted to pressure on the judiciary, Ma said he shouldn't comment too much on the case ahead of a bail hearing at the top court next month.

He said the courts handle national security cases the same way they treat all other criminal and civil cases.

Ma also said he knew of no instances of judges who felt pressure to change their handling of a case just because of criticism, including from the media, individuals or organisations.

The chief justice added people may think that Hong Kong has changed a lot "recently", but what's unchanged, he said, is the judiciary's attitude towards safeguarding the rule of law.

He said that's his and the judiciary's mission in the past decade and today.

On the controversy involving the separation of powers, Ma said he had used the term before, but this has now become a political issue.

He stressed it's important for Hong Kong to have judicial independence as enshrined in the Basic Law.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said last year there's no separation of powers for the executive, legislative and judicial branches under Hong Kong's constitutional system, raising concerns about checks and balances as well as the role of the judiciary.

Ma, who turns 65 next week, has served as chief justice for the past 10 years. On his future, he said he won't become a non-permanent judge at the Court of Final Appeal, but hasn't really thought about what to do next.