Remember when Malaysian authorities raided Swatch stores and seized 164 rainbow-coloured watches worth a total of US$14,000 from its Pride collection?

Ministry of Home Affairs officials raided its outlets in various malls across Malaysia on May 13 and 14 this year, seizing the watches because they “bore LGBT connotations.” The seizure was based on the Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984).

Homosexuality is criminalised in Malaysia, with punishments ranging from caning under Islamic laws to 20 years in prison for sodomy under colonial-era civil laws.

The Malay Mail reports that the Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd filed a lawsuit against the Malaysian government for confiscating the watches, an act the company says has damaged its reputation, stating that the seizure of 172 watches worth RM64,795 from 16 retail outlets was illegal, as watches are not a publication that can be prohibited under the Act. It further argued that this meant the Home Ministry officers had no power under the law to conduct the raid.

Most of the seized watches did not contain ‘LGBTQ’ lettering, the Group said. They also argued that the seized watches did not cause any disruption to public order or morality or any violations of the law, saying that there has been no incidents or disruptions since the older variants of the designs were made available in Malaysia from June 2022.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court is set to hear the case at 0900 on July 20 (case reference WA-25-175-06/2023), presided by Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh. The defendants are listed as :

1. Kerajaan Malaysia
2. Setiausaha Bahagian
3. Ketua Setiausaha, Kementerian Dalam Negeri Malaysia
4. Menteri, KDN

The Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd is seeking an order to quash the seizure notice, compensation because of damage to their reputation as a consequence of the seizure, and the return of the watches within five days of the order, saying its “ability to do business freely” had been “greatly jeopardised” following the seizure.

According to the Malay Mail, before filing the lawsuit the Swatch Group had sent a letter to the Home Ministry to demand the return of the seized watches, but received no response.

Categories: Industry news, Swatch, watches