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Malaysia bans ‘LGBTQ+’ elements on Swatch watches 3 months after raids

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia's Home Ministry has officially banned all elements of “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Plus (LGBTQ+)” on Swiss watchmaker Swatch’s timepieces and accessories, nearly three months after it seized 172 items in raids of the company’s stores in Malaysia.

Watches are displayed for sale at a Swatch store at Setia City Mall in Shah Alam on May 25, 2023.

Watches are displayed for sale at a Swatch store at Setia City Mall in Shah Alam on May 25, 2023.

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KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia's Home Ministry has officially banned all elements of “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Plus (LGBTQ+)” on Swiss watchmaker Swatch’s timepieces and accessories, nearly three months after it seized 172 items in raids of the company’s stores in Malaysia.

In a statement on Thursday (Aug 10), the Home Ministry announced that it has gazetted a ban on “any publication related to LGBTQ+ in any form appearing on Swatch watches of any collection including the boxes, wrappers, accessories or any other related things”.

According to the government gazette published on Thursday, the prohibition order was made on Aug, 2023 by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail via his powers under Section 7 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, with the publisher of this banned publication named as “Swatch Limited, Switzerland”.

The prohibition order states that the “printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing, sale, issue, circulation, distribution or possession” of Swatch watches with “LGBTQ+” “which is likely to be prejudicial to morality is prohibited throughout Malaysia”.

The Home Ministry also cautioned the public that anyone who prints, imports, produces, reproduces, publishes, sells, issues, circulates, distributes, or possesses the prohibited Swatch items for such purposes would be committing an offence.

The ministry said that the penalty, upon conviction, based on Section 8(2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act, would be a maximum of three years in prison or a maximum fine of RM20,000 (S$5,900), or both.

A check by Malay Mail of the Printing Presses and Publication Act shows that there is a separate offence for the possession of any prohibited publication “without lawful excuse”, which is punishable upon conviction with a maximum RM5,000 fine.

In the same statement on the newly-gazetted ban, the Home Ministry said it was “committed to prevent the spread of elements that are prejudicial to or may be prejudicial to morality, public interest, and country among society”.

“In this matter, that publication was imposed with the Prohibition Order as it is a publication that is prejudicial or may be prejudicial to morality, public interest, and national interest by promoting, supporting, and normalising the LGBTQ+ movement which is not accepted by the general public in Malaysia,” the ministry said, when commenting on the freshly-banned Swatch items.

It also expressed its commitment in preserving security and public order through the supervising and controlling of publications to counter the spread of elements, beliefs and movements that are contrary with “local social-culture” from time to time, in line with the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

On May 13 to 15, Home Ministry officers raided 16 of Swatch’s stores throughout Malaysia and seized 172 watches worth RM64,795.

According to Swatch Group, the 172 Swatch watches that were seized featured nine different designs, with most of them being six designs from its Pride collection launched on May 4 and which had been advertised on Swatch’s website since then.

The remaining 29 units featuring three other designs were from the previous years’ Pride collections and had been available for sale in Malaysia since June 2, 2022, or slightly more than 11 months before the Home Ministry’s seizures.

On June 24, the Swatch Group filed the lawsuit through a judicial review application at the Malaysian High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

It named the four respondents as the Home Ministry chief secretary, the Home Ministry’s enforcement division’s secretary, the home minister and the Malaysian government.

In court papers for its lawsuit, Swatch Group said it had not received any complaints from the public about any of the watches that were seized, and argued that these watches did not cause any disruption to public order or morality or any violations of the law since they were sold in Malaysia.

Swatch Group filed the lawsuit as it claimed that the Home Ministry’s officers had acted illegally, irrationally, with procedural impropriety and that their actions were allegedly disproportionate and for an improper purpose.

In its lawsuit, Swatch Group is seeking court orders for compensation; to quash the Home Ministry’s seizure notice for the 172 watches; for the seized watches to be returned within five days of the order.

Swatch Group is also seeking for a court declaration that Section 16(2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 only authorises the Home Ministry’s officers to search Swatch’s stores in “exigent circumstances” or urgent circumstances, and an order to quash the decisions and actions of the Home Ministry officers on the searches of Swatch stores and seizures of the watches.

For judicial review applications, applicants must obtain leave of permission from the High Court before the actual lawsuit can proceed for hearing.

The High Court is scheduled to hear Swatch Group’s application for leave for judicial review on Aug 23. MALAY MAIL

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Malaysia LGBTQ Watch

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