A Swiss watchmaker seeks to amend its application for leave to commence judicial review over the nationwide raid and seizure of its Pride Collection watches in various rainbow shades - adopted as the LGBT community symbol.
As a result, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur this morning postponed to Aug 23 the hearing of the legal action by Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd over the Home Ministry’s raid and seizure between May 13 to 15.
It is understood that during the chamber matter today, Judge Amarjeet Singh made the postponement as the Swiss firm’s legal team headed by Nizam Bashir seeks to amend its judicial review court documents.
Senior federal counsel Nur Irmawatie Daud appeared for the four respondents targeted by the legal action: the home minister, the Home Ministry’s chief secretary, the ministry’s enforcement division secretary, and the federal government.
On June 24, Swatch filed the judicial review leave application, seeking among others:
An order of certiorari to quash the seizure notices over the raids conducted between May 13 to 15.
A mandamus order to compel the four respondents to return the 172 timepieces within five days of the order date.
Damages which include those of exemplary and aggravated nature
Issing said in the older designs, which comprised a minority of the seized watches, only the Stripe Fierce model contained the words “LBTQIA2S+”.
He observed that Pride merchandise has been freely available for sale in Malaysia and throughout the world for many years now, with multiple retailers selling products under their own Pride collection, whether digitally or in physical form.
“All this while, the applicant has not received any complaint from any member of the public or authority regarding the design of any of its Pride collection watches.
“We were never told by the respondents or any officials from the Home Affairs Ministry that the Pride designs were problematic, and we were not given any opportunity to be heard before the seizures were done,” he contended.
“When the applicant’s employees and I saw the seizure notices, it was not clear why the watches had been seized. The seizure notices did not clearly state what basis (for the seizure).
“As far as we knew, the picture of a rainbow and the acronym “LGBTQIA2S+” were not banned words in Malaysia.
“The watches did not promote any sexual activity, but were merely a fun and joyous expression of peace and love.”
Making reference to news reports on Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s claim that Swatch does not sell “Pride” watches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the director countered that certain designs of its “Pride” series are sold there.
Issing pointed out that despite Saifuddin’s claims that the watches were seized as they contained the LGBTQ acronym, the minister appeared to not have published any order in the government gazette in regard to the watch seizure.
“By reason of the seizures, I contend that the applicant has suffered loss and damage. The total retail value of the watches seized amounted to RM64,795.
“The applicant’s trading reputation has been damaged as a result of the seizures, and aggravated by the subsequent public statements by members of the government suggesting that Swatch is somehow acting contrary to Malaysian values. This is totally untrue.
“By depriving the applicant of the watches, and having entered into our stores arbitrarily and seized the watches without prior notice, our ability to do business freely is greatly jeopardised.
“Our business and trading figures also suffered in the immediate aftermath of the seizures for some time,” he claimed.- Mkini
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