KUALA LUMPUR: Swatch Malaysia has dismissed claims suggesting that the Home Ministry only confiscated watches with the letters "LGBTQ" inscribed on the timepiece.
LGBTQ refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
Swatch Malaysia spokesman told the New Straits Times that the ministry not only seized watches from the Pride collection but also watch collections from the previous years.
The spokesman said a total of 164 watches from nine different variations, worth more RM64,000, were seized from 11 of its outlets during the two-day raid.
"The watches they seized were from the Pride Collection as well as the previous years collection.
"The latest collection only displayed the words Nature, Growth, Life, Passion, Healing and Spirit on the seconds hand to symbolise equality.
"Six of them are from the new 2023 rainbow flag-inspired collection whereas another three models are from the previous collection," the spokesman said, adding that there could have been a misinformation in the details of the items seized during the raid.
The spokesman was responding to a report published by an online news portal today which quoted a source with the ministry.
"We did not seize the watches just because they had rainbow colours. If that is the case, we would need to seize Paddle Pop ice creams," the insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was quoted by the online news portal.
On May 13 and 14, the ministry was reported to have raided 11 Swatch shops in shopping malls such as Pavilion KL, 1 Utama, Sunway Pyramid, Mid Valley Megamall, and Suria Sabah over the brand's "Pride Collection".
Five shops at malls in Alor Setar, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Baru, Johor Baru and Kuching were let off with warnings.
The raid reportedly came after netizens linked the collection to British band Coldplay's support for the LGBT community.
Swatch Group chief executive officer Nick Hayek had also issued a statement on Friday saying the watches seized by the ministry did not contain any reference to the LGBT community.