KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — Malaysia’s Home Ministry has returned all 172 seized Swatch watches worth RM64,795 — from the Swiss watchmaker’s Pride collections linked to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights movement — to the company’s local firm Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, sources confirmed to Malay Mail.

They said the Home Ministry returned the watches to Swatch Group on December 9.

This comes after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur’s November 25 court order for all watches to be returned within 14 days.

The 14-day deadline for the return of the Swatch watches was due to end on December 9, which was also the day the watches were returned to and collected by Swatch Group.

Malay Mail understands that the Home Ministry and government did not file a stay order to temporarily freeze the order for the return of the watches.

The Home Ministry and government has so far not filed any appeal at the Court of Appeal against the High Court decision.

Appeals to the Court of Appeal have to be filed within 30 days of a High Court decision, which means the last day for the Home Ministry and the government to appeal the High Court’s Swatch decision is on December 26.

This is after taking into account that the initial final day of December 25 being a public holiday, which means the 30-day deadline would end on the next working day of December 26 instead, based on Order 3, Rule 4 of the Rules of Court 2012.

On November 25, the High Court ruled that the Home Ministry’s search of Swatch stores in May 2023 was illegal as it was done without warrant, and that this meant that the Home Ministry’s seizure of the 172 Pride watches during the raids were also illegal.

The High Court had also ordered the Home Ministry to return all seized watches within 14 days, as it found that the ministry had banned Swatch’s Pride watches after the seizure and which meant the company was not breaking any law when the watches were seized.

Between May 13 and 15, 2023, Home Ministry officers raided 16 Swatch stores nationwide and seized from 11 stores the 172 watches which featured nine designs — six designs from Swatch’s 2023 Pride collection and three designs from its previous Pride Collections 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 it is considered to be “likely prejudicial to morality”.

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

As the High Court’s decision last month is focused only on whether the raids and seizures were legal and whether the watches should be returned, the Home Ministry’s August 2023 ban on the sale of Swatch watches featuring LGBTQ+ is still valid and in force.

Shortly after the High Court’s November 25 decision, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had on the same day said the ministry must respect the court’s decision to avoid committing contempt of court.

The minister also said it was too soon to decide on whether an appeal would be filed and that the basis of the court ruling would have to be studied first. - malaymail