Mere Statements Won't Help Judiciary: Holden Chow

Legislator Holden Chow, who's also a lawyer, said on Wednesday that the courts need to take concrete action to convince the public that their judgements are impartial, and just issuing statements isn't enough.

Chow, a lawmaker with Hong Kong's biggest pro-Beijing party, the DAB, was reacting to a rare statement issued by Chief Justice, Geoffrey Ma, who slammed ungrounded attacks on judges and warned that raising baseless charges would erode the public's faith in the independence of the judiciary.

"Simply by repeating legal principles 101 is not enough to convince the public that we are able to protect the reputation of the judiciary," said Chow. "It is not even able to remove the doubts from the public that our courts could remain unbiased."

"So I suggest [to the ] courts, that they need to take active steps and address the concerns of the public on how to enforce their own regulations on judges and make sure that they deliver their verdict [with] no bias."

Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok said he felt that the Chief Justice had issued the statement as some judges and magistrates were coming under "systematic attack".

"If we want to criticise the judiciary for any of its decisions, you can do it. But you have to base it on proper principles and facts," he said. "Then it is fine."

"But the recent systematic criticism by certain newspapers and certain Legco members in naming and shaming certain magistrates in particular has had a great impact on the judiciary. So that was why it was necessary for the judiciary to issue a long and rare statement," Kwok said.

He told RTHK's Timmy Sung that Ma was right in avoiding references to the recent controversies on separation of power, saying he shouldn't get into a shouting match with the government, as the principle is embedded in the Basic Law.