By Lo Fung

Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, Geoffrey Ma, issued a rare statement to refute the accusations from society against judges, and explained in depth the principle and operation of judicial independence. However, the indigenous Communist camps and Hong Kong’s CCP mouthpieces are not buying it, and continue their fierce maul towards Justice Ma, local courts, and judges. Some of them accuse Justice Ma of making excuses and evading, others remarked that Hong Kong’s judiciary attempts to arrogate the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s (NPCSC) power of interpretation of the law. According to them, Hong Kong’s judiciary must be reformed, including setting up a sentencing committee, strengthening the supervision and monitoring of judges' behaviors and rulings, establishing mechanisms to investigate and follow up with complaints against judges, etc. So, Justice Ma’s efforts were in vain and failed to woo the indigenous Commies political parties and Hong Kong’s state mouthpieces who are going amuck with their determination to kill.

Why are the indigenous Commies and state mouthpieces so dogged on opening the gate? The one who revealed the secret most bluntly is none other than former LegCo Chairman Jasper Tsang, who is generally considered to be rather less “pro-CCP left”. This well-regarded Chairman Tsang who often appears as a moderate pro-China face made quite a lot of comments on Justice Geoffrey Ma’s statement during an interview last Saturday, including that the establishment of a sentencing committee may affect judicial independence. But the most worth noting words were: some people in the central government have lost confidence in the judiciary or certain judges, so the court must find ways to rebuild confidence among the people, and the confidence in the central government towards Hong Kong judicial system, including increasing the transparency of the handling of complaints against judges.

It is unsure if former Chairman Tsang’s so-called increasing the transparency of the handling of complaints against judges means to set up an independent judges complaints council to put judges on public trials with pro-Beijing political parties to determine if they can stay in the office, but the key accidental reveal by Chairman Tsang was that: the central government lack confidence in the judiciary and certain judges. The insistence of the indigenous Commies and local state mouthpieces to rectify the courts as a “mountain” to flatten is an exact reflection of the lack of confidence from certain people in the central government leadership towards judges in the Hong Kong courts. This is also why no matter how Justice Ma spins it, or explains the principle of judicial independence does not work, nor would it rid Hong Kong’s judiciary of political interference and pressure. Only when Justice Ma and other judges learn to figure out what the boss wants (the opinion of certain people in the central government), to try cases and rule according to the wishes from “the above”, then these central government people will be relieved, and complaints and criticisms towards courts and judges could stop.

Honestly, it is not accidental that certain people in the central government are uncertain or lacking confidence in Hong Kong judges and courts, because CCP officials have long been accustomed to controlling everything. They always know the outcome of events in advance and cannot tolerate unexpected situations. For the CCP, every election must have a pre-determined result, therefore all mainland elections are conducted with pre-selected candidates and pre-arranged votes. Every step before the election is to guarantee that there can be no mistakes made and that the person intended to be elected will be elected.

Senior officials in Beijing have always wanted to apply this in Hong Kong. After 1997, citizens have been striving for universal suffrage in the Chief Executive election. As a result, the NPCSC determined a pre-screening plan where all candidates to run must be approved by Beijing, otherwise, they will not even be in the game. This is the kind of election in the mind of Beijing, and Hongkongers are but sidekicks in the game. The election results are determined by certain people in the central government, and there will not be accidents or disturbances.

Now that Beijing is to implement comprehensive governance in Hong Kong, to fully deny the separation of the three powers, to stress coordination of the powers of administration, legislature, and judiciary around the transcending core of the Chief Executive. With this new thinking and strategy, the discourse on judicial independence outlined in the Basic Law is considered outdated by these Beijing officials, and the tradition that Hong Kong courts and judges can make independent decisions is no longer in line with the new normal; moreover, certain judges have even gone against the will, or even challenged the rulings of the Beijing officials, such as acquitting young people accused of rioting, or sentencing certain young defendants lightly instead of heavily to create a deterrence factor, therefore Beijing and the indigenous Commies have no choice but to take action.

In truth, for them, it is a technical error that local courts and judges have not understood properly the central government’s thinking and made rulings that were contrary to the will of the Beijing officials and Communists, and even went as far as using judicial independence as a shield to challenge the central authority. They must be thoroughly rectified, such that they will no longer dare to use judicial independence as a talisman. Yet Justice Ma, with his piece of statement, continues to insist on the principle of judicial independence, and dares to ignore the political situation and the order of Beijing. How, then, could these state mouthpieces and indigenous Commies continue with their persistent smacking?

The Hong Kong national security law concocted by Beijing specified that the Chief Executive will appoint judges to handle the national security cases, to ensure that the floodgate is open, and that the culture of understanding the boss is written into the judicial system. With this loophole, state mouthpieces and Commie parties naturally want to take a step further such that the courts and judges will learn to stick with Beijing’s wishes in the ruling of all other important cases as well, and there will be no more unexpected rulings. Only by reaching this point will the state mouthpieces and Commie parties stop with their siege of the court.

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