Sincere & fair: Mr Justice Woo Kwok-hing, as Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, has to work with various sectors of the community. He said it is important to be sincere and fair in the job.

Mr Justice Woo Kwok-hing said the view some people have of judges as being 'superior' is "utterly wrong".

Although he admitted judges can be "quite self-centred", because they must be independent in deciding on cases and have confidence in themselves, they do not have a "superiority complex" at all.

Some have thought judges are quite detached from worldly affairs, but he said it is a wrong perception. He said judges decide on cases in accordance with their knowledge of the law and the case facts.

They always have to determine if someone is telling the truth or not, and Mr Justice Woo wondered who does this more than they do.

Now 57, he joined the Bench as Judge of the Court of First Instance in 1992. He has headed the election commission since 1993.

The job natures of a judge and the commission chairman are very different.

When trying cases, judges only have to meet witnesses and lawyers. But the commission head has a lot of contact with political organisations, candidates and the media. But Mr Justice Woo said that is not a problem for him.

Very often, chairman has to work with different groups of people in and outside the commission. It is most important to be "sincere and fair", he said.

Does he feel struck down by his double workload?

"I don't feel stressful at all in dealing with court cases and electoral affairs," he said, adding that to him, work is just an everyday routine.

He said his only pressure is to finish an assignment within a short timeframe. But there should not be any pressure if one has good time management, he adds.

For relaxation, unwinding his mind from court cases and some problematic electoral matters, he watches television serials and visits Hong Kong Park's aviary. He plays mahjong too.

Some see Mr Justice Woo as "firm and determined" and a "workaholic".

He said when he discusses his ideas with colleagues and officials "I will reach a conclusion after considering all the reasoning, and then I'll be firm and determined with it. I always listen to others' views, comments and suggestions so as to improve".

However, he rejects notions he's a workaholic.

"Perhaps the seriousness with which I treat the performance of my duties has given people the wrong idea that I am a workaholic.

"I don't like to work at all. I'm just like a primary or kindergarten student. If I do not have official duties, I like to idle," he mused.

So how does he describe himself then?

"I am serious with work and always try my best in whatever manner I can in order to achieve some success."

By success, he means "the sense of success to myself, not necessarily being successful in the eyes of others".

Mr Justice Woo practised for decades as a barrister in Hong Kong before he joined the Bench in 1992.

He took silk in 1987 and has been engaged in many public appointments in his career. He has also been head of the Department of Law & Business of the Hong Kong Shue Yan College.

Private practice certainly brings more monetary rewards, but money is not everything, he said.