Swiss watchmaker Swatch has filed a complaint against authorities in Malaysian court over the seizure of several stores last May a collection adorned with the LGTBI rainbow flag.
The Swiss multinational filed the complaint on June 24 asking for damages and the delivery of the 172 seized watches, but the case only became known today after an article in Malay Mail.
Last May, police seized watches from several stores across the country for displaying the LGTBI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) flag, an initiative criticized by human rights groups for seeing it as an attack on this community.
According to the complaint cited by Malay Mail, Swatch claims the seizures were “unreasonable” and that the watches posed no risk to public order, morality or any other law.
Swatch Group sues Malaysian government for seizing Pride watches worth RM64,000 https://t.co/nuv48R2bgA
– Malaysia Mail (@malaymail) July 17, 2023
In an e-mail to EFE, the Swiss company indicates that it will not comment on ongoing legal proceedings as a matter of principle.
Any expression by the LGTBI community is controversial in Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of its 34 million population is Muslim.
The current Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has spent nearly a decade in prison on charges of sodomy and corruption, which he denies, but when he came to power, he insisted his government will not give more rights to the community.
Last September, transgender businesswoman Nur Sajat, owner of a cosmetics brand, fled Malaysia after being accused of breaking Islamic law and, after being temporarily detained in Thailand, was eventually welcomed back to Australia.
The films “Beauty and the Beast” (Beauty and the Beast, 2017) and “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022) have been pulled from Malaysia because they contain scenes with references to the LGTBI community.
Source: DN
