Swatch case: Malaysian court ruling on ‘illegal’ seizures of Pride watches remain as Home Ministry did not appeal

Swatch case: Malaysian court ruling on ‘illegal’ seizures of Pride watches remain as Home Ministry did not appeal



Previously on November 25, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur decided that the Home Ministry’s May 2023 raids of Swatch stores in Malaysia and seizure of the 172 watches were illegal, as the searches were done without warrant. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Friday, 27 Dec 2024 11:26 AM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — The High Court ruling which found Malaysia’s Home Ministry’s seizures last year of 172 Swatch watches worth RM64,795 — without search warrants and before the watches were even banned for having lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) elements — to be illegal is still valid and has not been challenged.

This is because the Home Ministry has not pursued any appeal against the High Court’s decision.


Yesterday was the end of the usual 30-day deadline for the Malaysian government and the Home Ministry to file an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

When contacted by Malay Mail today, the Attorney General’s Chambers’ federal counsel Mohammad Sallehuddin Md Ali confirmed that no appeal was filed for the Swatch case.


Previously on November 25, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur decided that the Home Ministry’s May 2023 raids of Swatch stores in Malaysia and seizure of the 172 watches were illegal, as the searches were done without warrant.


The High Court said Swatch was not breaking any law at the time the watches were seized, as the Home Ministry had only banned Swatch’s Pride watches after the seizure.

The High Court had also ordered the Home Ministry to return all seized watches within 14 days.

Previously, sources confirmed to Malay Mail that the Home Ministry had returned all 172 watches to the Swiss watchmaker’s local firm Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd on December 9, which was also when the 14-day deadline would end.

The 172 seized watches are from Swatch’s collections linked to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights movement known as the Pride movement.

The 172 watches had nine designs, namely six designs from Swatch’s 2023 Pride collection and three designs from its previous Pride Collections which were sold in Malaysia since June 2022.

On June 24, 2023, the Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd filed its lawsuit at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur against four respondents: the Home Ministry chief secretary, the Home Ministry’s enforcement division’s secretary, the home minister and the Malaysian government.

Almost three months after seizing the 172 Swatch watches, the Home Ministry on August 10, 2023 gazetted its August 9, 2023 nationwide ban on the import, production, sale, circulation, distribution or possession of Swatch watches with “LGBTQ+”.

The home minister’s August 9, 2023 ban or prohibition order covers the appearance of “LGBTQ+” in any form on Swatch watches of any collection, including the boxes, wrappers, accessories or any other related things, as they are considered to be “likely to be prejudicial to morality”.

“LGBTQ+” stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and plus.

Both Swatch’s lawsuit and the High Court’s decision were only on whether the raids and seizures were legal and whether the watches should be returned, and the High Court had also indicated that the seized Pride watches do come under the Minister’s powers in the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 to ban “undesirable publications”.

This means the Minister’s August 2023 ban on the sale of Swatch watches featuring LGBTQ+ — from August 2023 onwards — is still valid and in force in Malaysia now.