The former president of Hong Kong’s legislature has called for greater transparency in handling complaints against judges, saying it would help rebuild the loss in confidence by Beijing and Hongkongers in the city’s judicial system.

But establishing a committee to regulate sentencing as suggested by some pro-Beijing politicians to ensure fair sentencing in protest-related cases, would be a step too far, Jasper Tsang said on a current affairs television program on Saturday.

Tsang’s remarks come as pro-establishment lawmaker Holden Chow called for the formation of a sentencing committee, as well as a supervising committee, to ensure that judges would act impartially when handling cases involving defendants who protested against the now-shelved extradition bill last year.

Tsang, who is also a founding member of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong political party, said that both committees would affect judicial independence.

“If they are saying that they want normal residents to be a part of a supervisory committee to sit there and give pressure to judges, I think it’d be difficult for me to say that it falls in line with the same concept as judicial independence,” Tsang said.

He said a more effective measure would be having greater transparency in how complaints against judges were handled, including those aimed at judges' comments in court and during rulings. This would help rebuild both the central government’s and the public’s lost confidence in the judicial system, he said.

Opposition lawmaker Alvin Yeung, who is also a barrister, said the current legal system already has established mechanisms to handle complaints against judges. He said the real problem was that the pro-Beijing camp was not satisfied with judges' rulings, and hoped that any changes to the existing system would get them the results they wanted.

The pro-Beijing camp has been vocal in blaming the courts for granting bail to certain protesters charged with rioting during the citywide protests last year, as some of the defendants have subsequently skipped bail.

Local courts have come under increasing pressure in a debate over whether the city still enjoys separation of powers, as judges have had to increasingly deal with cases related to the controversial national security law, which bans secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with a foreign country.

Basic Law Committee member Professor Albert Chen said if the police and the Department of Justice interpreted the security law more loosely, this would see more cases being brought to courts, and they would have a greater responsibility to interpret the law. But Chen still believes that the courts would interpret the law in accordance with common law and international human rights standards.

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