Obviously, the Malaysian courts will decide whether or not this seizure was legal, but I find it curious that you would celebrate it if you're unaware of any laws that would ban the sale of this type of merchandise, because that would mean that the police are arbitrarily confiscating private property based on personal whims.
Celebrate? No it is not happiness I'm feeling rather it's catharsis. The acceptance of me finally releasing my lingering attachment of my own illusion of a once noble cause. Akin to how some people feel to discarding their religion. I'm done supporting anything LGBT after disappointment on top of disappointment as I see the community in the west go from wanting acceptance to enforcing compliance and sexual degeneracy. I think I have declared this in some other thread.
I have been on this forum for a very very long time. You may check my profile. If you're to look back at some of my early posts, you'll find a very moderate and LGBT supportive person. Now it is a different story. I'm not going to let my nation turn into what the west looks like now. But that's just me.
Now for the legality of the confiscation. Is it legal? I don't know for sure. But in Malaysia homosexual act is by the letter of the law illegal. So it is not a stretch any items that promote or relate to homosexuality would be as well. Therefore it doesn't matter if an item is of private ownership, as long as the law interprets it as illegal, the authorities are legally able to take or destroy the item. There is nothing arbitrary about it.
We are not a lawless nation. Our laws are still based on the British common law. Seeing as they were our once colonial masters. While we have made some changes and add upon it, the main framework is very much intact.
I'm not a lawyer by profession. I know the basics of the law (enough to know the broad stokes of legality) but anything more complex it is better you read for yourself.
Of course. I would assume that that's a calculation that Swatch made when deciding to market those items in Malaysia. But ticking off customers (or potential customers) generally does not result in the police seizing your products or - as you hinted - the government making it more difficult for you to do business in the country entirely.
I doubt Swatch Malaysia made a calculated risk. Rather feels like testing of the societal tolerance level - slowly boiling a frog and see when it will jump out. If you're Swatch operating in a Muslim majority country, is there any business justification to sell items in direct contradiction to the religious teaching? Or if you're Swatch Japan would you sell a watch with an atomic mushroom to commemorate the Allied victory? Even if the nations have freedom of speech laws, you'll find that there are also laws prohibiting offensive materials. Just because something is not offensive in the west doesn't mean it's the same in other places.
