KUALA LUMPUR – Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail will wait to be briefed on the high court’s order today for the ministry to return 172 watches seized last year from Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd before deciding on whether or not to challenge the ruling.
Saifuddin said that the ministry had adhered to existing laws in when seizing the watches from the company’s Pride Collection series.
When asked if the ministry will be appealing the order, Saifuddin said that he will first secure a full report on the matter, including the basis of the verdict.
However, he also said the ministry respected the court’s order.
“If the court has decided as such, the ministry must respect the verdict (as) we will be in contempt of court otherwise,” he told reporters the sidelines of the Immigration Department’s monthly assembly in Putrajaya.
At the Kuala Lumpur High Court earlier today, judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh ruled that since the ministry’s enforcement operation on Swatch’s premises between May 13 and 15, 2023 was made without a warrant, such searches are thus deemed illegal.
In granting the Swiss company’s application for a certiorari order to quash the seizure notices, the judge also made no order as to costs or damages, but ruled that the company is at liberty to seek compensation if the merchandise returned from authorities are damaged in any way.
However, he denied Swatch’s appeal for a declaration that its watches do not meet the requirements for an “undesirable publication” under Section 7 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984.
On August 10 last year, about three months after the Home Ministry’s raid on 16 Swatch stores, the ministry gazetted a prohibition order against Swatch watches with “LGBTA elements”, citing Section 7 of the PPPA.
As a result of the ban, any individual caught printing, importing, producing, publishing, selling, or being in possession of the watches may be charged with three years of imprisonment, a fine of no more than RM20,000, or both.
The judge had in August 2023 granted Swatch leave for the high court to hear the merits of its challenge against the government’s action of seizing the watches at its premises nationwide, with a total retail value amounting to RM64,795, for purportedly promoting LGBTQ values.
The leave application, filed in June, highlighted that the company had not received any complaint from the public or authorities regarding the design of its Pride Collection watches.
Company director and country manager Martin Issing, via an affidavit in support of the application, also said Pride merchandise had been freely available for sale in Malaysia and globally for many years now, with multiple retailers digitally and in physical form selling products that are part of a Pride collection. – November 25, 2024