Tong Hio Fong, two-time president of the parliamentary electoral affairs committee, was yesterday appointed chief of the Court of Second Instance (TSI) for three years.
His appointment can be extended.
The news was announced by the government in an Official Gazette entry.
The current president of the court, Justice Lai Kin Hong, has filed for voluntary retirement, which has been approved. Lai has occupied the position since 1999. His appointment had been renewed in 2020 and set to end in 2023.
Tong was the president of the electoral affairs committee for the parliamentary election last year. In the election, 20 candidates from the non-establishment camp were disqualified from the election. Tong ruled there was evidence the 20 candidates were unpatriotic and critical of the leadership of the Communist Party of China. He last presided over an electoral affairs committee in 2017.
Tong started his career as a judge at the Court of First Instance (TJB), where he served from 1999 to 2013. In 2010, he was appointed the president of the TJB and the Administrative Court, an organic court of the TJB.
In 2013, Tong was promoted to the TSI as a regular judge. His position at the TJB was taken by Ip Son Sang, incumbent president of the Public Prosecutions Office. AL
