PHOTO: SWATCH/FACEBOOK
Wed 24 May 2023:
Malaysian officials have seized watches that the Swiss manufacturer Swatch released to honor LGBTQ pride in Muslim-dominated nation.
Swatch stated on Tuesday that on May 13 and 14, officials carried raids on Swatch stores located in 11 malls, taking 164 watches valued at a total of $14,000.
The Swiss watchmaker, based in Biel/Bienne, released its line of brightly coloured timepieces inspired by the rainbow flag to “celebrate the unity and diversity that make our society — and Swatch — so strong.”
Officials from Malaysia’s home affairs ministry said “22 Swatch watches with LGBT elements” had been confiscated at one Switch outlet, according to a summons notice issued under the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984 and cited by the AFP news agency.
Swatch said it planned to replenish its stocks of the watches and continue to sell them in the Southeast Asian country.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution told the Associated Press news agency that he was waiting for a full report on the incident before commenting on the matter.
Malaysia, which is about 60 percent Muslim, criminalises sexual activity between members of the same sex and prohibits the Malay-Muslim majority from partaking in expressions of gender and sexuality that go against Islamic teachings.
On Tuesday, two members of parliament from the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), the largest single party in Malaysia’s parliament, said that LGBTQ people should be classified as suffering from a mental illness.
In October, religious police raided an LGBTQ-friendly Halloween party in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, arresting 20 Muslim men for cross-dressing.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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