KUALA LUMPUR – The High Court here has given the Home Ministry 14 days to return 172 watches seized from Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd’s Pride Collection series during nationwide raids on its premises in May last year.
Ruling in favour of the judicial review application brought by Swatch, judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh said that while he is not making any orders for damages, the company is at liberty to seek compensation if the merchandise returned from authorities are damaged in any way.
The justice, who also made no order as to costs, highlighted that since the operation conducted against Swatch’s premises was made without a warrant, such searches are thus deemed illegal.
“Therefore, any (items) seized made as stated in the notice of seizure is illegal,” Amarjeet said in granting the Swiss company’s application for a certiorari order to quash the seizure notices.
The judge also highlighted that Swatch had not gone against any order when the seizures were executed as a prohibition against the watches was only issued after the series of raids on 16 of the company’s outlets between May 13 and 15, 2023.
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 Swatch’s stores, the ministry gazetted a prohibition order against Swatch watches containing elements of LGBTQ, 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 watches were seized by the authorities under Section 17 of the PPPA, which does not require a government gazette or prohibition, as the merchandise was deemed to be an undesirable publication.
Federal Counsel Salehuddin Ali appeared for the four respondents targeted by Swatch: the home minister, the Home Ministry’s secretary-general, the ministry’s enforcement division secretary and the federal government.
Before the judge delivered his verdict, Swatch’s counsel Nizam Bashir appealed for Amarjeet to consider a supplementary affidavit the applicant had previously submitted detailing an interview session with the “highest member of the executive” criticising the respondents.
While Nizam stopped short of naming the individual in question, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said in an interview with CNN in September last year that the Home Ministry’s seizure of the Swatch watches was “excessive”.
In response, Amarjeet declined to consider the supplementary affidavit in question, saying: Forget what the executive and legislative (branches) want to do. If they do anything wrong, you come here and I’ll rectify it.
“My decision today is based on what both (applicants and respondents) have submitted on the point of law in this particular case.”
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.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had previously defended the ministry’s actions against the timepiece brand, citing formal complaints from the public. – November 25, 2024