Sept 25 ruling on govt appeal to restore ban on ‘Gay is OK!’

The Court of Appeal has set Sept 25 to deliver its verdict on the government’s appeal to reinstate a nationwide ban on the book 'Gay is OK! A Christian Perspective'.

The appellate court fixed the decision date during case management of the appeal earlier today.

When contacted after the case management, the author’s counsel Micheal Cheah confirmed the verdict date on the appeal by the Home Ministry and the federal government.

Last week during the hearing of the appeal before the Court of Appeal, the government’s legal team argued that the ban had been in accordance with the law.

The government’s appeal targeted the decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 22 last year.

On that date, the High Court allowed the judicial review - by the book’s author Ngeo Boon Lin as well as publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise - to lift the ban so that the work can be sold and distributed in Malaysia.

Judge Noorin Badaruddin had also ordered the ministry and the government to pay costs of RM5,000 to the two judicial review applicants.

She ruled that there was no evidence and factual basis for the ministry’s justification for the ban.

She said the ministry and government failed to show there had been actual prejudice to public order, even after over seven years that the book had been in publication, thus it followed that the book is unlikely to be prejudicial to public order.

On Feb 17, 2021, the author and publisher filed the judicial review bid, contending the ban was irrational as no untoward incidents were triggered following the book’s publication eight years ago. - Mkini