Malaysian government ordered to return seized LGBTQ+ Swatch watches
$14,000 worth of Swatch’s Pride collection watches were raided by authorities in Malaysia. (Screengrab: swatch.com)
The Malaysian government has been ordered to return hundreds of watches, made in the different colours of the rainbow, after seizing them for containing “LGBT elements.”
A court in the Southeast Asian country ordered the government to return them to Swiss watchmaker Swatch after they were seized in May 2023.
Home affairs minister Saifuddin Nasution said the government’s legal team was looking into the “basis of the judgement” before considering whether to appeal.
The government must “respect the decision” or else face contempt of court, he added.
Swatch issued a legal complaint, demanding $14,000 (£11,200) in damages, arguing that the items were not “capable of causing any disruption to public order”.
The authorities must hand back the items within 14 days, government prosecutor Mohammad Sallehuddin Md Ali told the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday (25 November), the BBC reported.
Homosexuality has been illegal in Malaysia since the 1800s and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a fine and caning. Censorship is commonplace and state-enforced, using clauses from the 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act. Films, TV and media containing LGBTQ+ themes are strictly prohibited.
The court ruled that the confiscation of the watches was unwarranted because a law prohibiting their sale was passed only after they were seized.
While the watches were returned to the manufacturer, an order prohibiting their sale under the country’s censorship laws means they cannot be resold. The watch company wrote in its lawsuit that its business had suffered “in the immediate aftermath” of the seizures.
“We wonder how the home ministry’s enforcement unit will confiscate the many beautiful natural rainbows that are showing up thousand times a year in the sky of Malaysia,” Swatch Group executive Nick Hayek said at the time.
As part of an ad campaign, Swatch described the timepieces as “loud, proud, uplifting and bursting with meaning”.
When asked about the seizure last year, prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said: “The only fact I know is that the confiscation was because the watches had LGBT symbols, not because of the colours.”
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