Swatch files complaint over confiscation of LGBTI watch in Malaysia

The Swiss watch company Swatch has filed a complaint with the Malaysian courts against the authorities in connection with the confiscation in May last year in several stores of a collection adorned with the LGTBI rainbow flag.

The Swiss multinational filed a complaint on June 24, seeking compensation and delivery of the 172 seized watches, but this was only revealed this Monday after an article was published in Malay Mail.

Last May, police confiscated watches from several stores across the country over the display of an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) flag, an initiative that human rights groups have criticized as they see it as an attack on the community. .

According to the complaint cited by Malay Mail, Swatch argues that the confiscation was “unreasonable” and that the watch did not pose a threat to public order, morality or any other law.

In an email sent to EFE, the Swiss company indicated that it would not comment on pending litigation as a matter of principle.

Any expression of the LGBT community is controversial in Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of the 34 million population is Muslim.

The current prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, spent nearly a decade in prison on charges of sodomy and corruption, which he denies, but when he came to power, he stressed that his government would not give more rights to the public.

Last September, Noor Sajat, a transgender businesswoman and owner of a cosmetics brand, fled Malaysia after being accused of violating Islamic law and, after being temporarily detained in Thailand, was finally welcomed to Australia.

The films Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) were pulled from Malaysia due to scenes with references to the LGBT community.