KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Transgender rights group Justice for Sisters has condemned the use of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 in the controversial raid and seizure of pride-themed Swatch watches recently.
The group called the raid another form of intolerance and discrimination against LGBTIQ people in Malaysia by the state and non-state parties in an increasingly conservative climate.
“We echo Muda’s deputy president’s call for the minister of home affairs to explain the legality, necessity and proportionality of the raid and confiscation of the watches, which resulted in the restriction of freedom of expression and equality,” Justice for Sisters said in a statement here yesterday.
They also said that while the home minister has reportedly instructed the enforcement department to halt further raids, the legality of the raid remains in question.
“Under Section 7(1), the minister is expected to make an order regarding the prohibition of the watches. The orders are typically published as a Gazette on the Attorney General Chambers’ (AGC) website. However, JFS has not found the gazette on the AGC’s website,” they said.
Justice for Sisters also said that the PPPA fails to comply with the international human rights law that says restrictions of rights must be justified and satisfy the test of legality, necessity and proportionality.
“Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) allows limitations of rights solely to secure due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
“In this case, the confiscation of the watches has resulted in a further restriction of LGBTIQ-related expression and denial of their right and ability to live with dignity and as equal members of society, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution (FC).
“As such, the PPPA should be reviewed and repealed,” the group said.
Justice for Sisters’ statement comes after the Home Ministry’s raid on 11 Swatch outlets in the country recently, where some 164 rainbow-etched watches worth RM64,255 were confiscated for allegedly violating the PPPA.
Justice for Sisters claims that the use of PPPA against LGBT expression was not new as the Home Ministry had previously banned at least six LGBT-themed books under the PPPA on broad grounds of so-called threat to public morality, order and security.
“In tandem with that, we question PPPA’s wide definition of publications, which includes ‘anything which by its form, shape or in any manner is capable of suggesting words or ideas” as well as the ‘absolute discretion’ conferred to the minister to ‘prohibit any publication contains any article, caricature, photograph, report, notes, writing, sound, music, statement or any other thing which is in any manner prejudicial to or likely to be prejudicial to public order, morality, security’ under Section 7(1).
“We are concerned that the combination of wide-definition of publication and the absolute discretion of the minister will continue the arbitrary restriction of LGBT expressions with impunity,” the group said.
