Chinese social media users took great delight in the scenes of rioters breaking into the US Capitol building on Wednesday, which they were allowed to see. It is too bad that they are unlikely to have been able to read or hear about another incident earlier that day, Hong Kong Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma’s (馬道立) final appearance on the bench, when he delivered a second strong defense of the rule of law and judicial independence in the territory in as many days.
Ma’s words carried even more resonance as they came just hours after more than 1,000 police officers were deployed across Hong Kong to arrest 53 democracy advocates, former lawmakers and academics for contravening the National Security Law by organizing an unofficial primary in July last year to nominate opposition candidates for the Legislative Council elections in September, which were later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Ma’s remarks were targeted at the pro-Beijing politicians, media and other forces in the territory — as well as those in China’s nomenklatura — who have been pushing for “reforming” Hong Kong’s judiciary, they should also be heeded by those in the US who filed a series of baseless lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the US presidential election, as well as those calling for legislative changes to back such demands.
His words should also be taken to heart by people in many nations, including those in Taiwan, who have all too often in recent years argued, as Tam Yiu-chung (譚耀宗), Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, did last summer, that courts should be in the business of making “down-to-earth” rulings that suit the prevailing situation in society.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Ma said: “It’s not particularly satisfactory if there’s a call for reforms simply on the basis of a result one doesn’t like. It is 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.’”
He went even further the next day, stressing three points: one, that the rule of law is about recognizing and enforcing human rights and fundamental freedoms; two, that it is not just about being conducive to business and investment, or only about law and order; and, three, that the concept of an independent judiciary is not related to politics.
Judicial independence means “the responsibility and duty imposed on the courts to adjudicate on the law and legal disputes fairly, evenly and strictly in accordance with legal principle and the spirit of the law,” Ma said during an hour-long ceremony at the Court of Final Appeal to an audience of lawyers, judges and government officials, including Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥).
It must have made for a few uncomfortable moments for Lam, who has repeatedly said that the legislation would not undermine the territory’s autonomy or its judiciary, or be retroactive, despite Beijing’s obvious intentions to the contrary.
Ma’s comments were similar to the judicial rebuffs delivered over the past two months to Republicans in several US states who sought to overturn election results based on claims of improprieties with mail-in ballots or ballot verification and counting. As a Washington Post article early last month, headlined “The Last Wall,” pointed out, there had been a “remarkable show of near-unanimity” among 86 judges across the US, from low-level state courts to the US Supreme Court, some elected, others appointed by Democrats and Republicans, that “comprehensively dismantled the arguments advanced by [US President Donald] Trump in his efforts to get the courts to subvert [US president-elect Joe] Biden’s victory.”
Since that article was published, even more judges joined the list of 86, upholding the rule of law and judicial independence.
Chinese citizens can only fantasize about having such a judiciary, which is why Beijing is working so hard to stamp it out in Hong Kong.
Americans and Taiwanese should be proud they live in nations where such “last walls” exist, even if they do not always agree with the verdicts.
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