The court upholds the ban on the book 'Gay is Okay! A Christian Perspective'
Named
September 25, 2023
The court upholds the ban on the book 'Gay is Okay! A Christian Perspective'
The panel of judges allowed the appeal of the Home Minister and the government to set aside the High Court's decision. - Decorative pictures
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today allowed the Home Minister's and the government's appeal to reinstate the order banning the book "Gay is Okay! A Christian Perspective".
A three-judge panel consisting of Datuk Azizah Nawawi, Datuk M. Gunalan and Datuk Wong Kian Kheong, in a majority decision, allowed the Home Minister's and the government's appeal to set aside the High Court's decision.
The court also ordered publisher Chong Ton Sin and writer Ngeo Boon Lin to pay costs of RM15,000 to the Home Minister and the government for the proceedings in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
On Feb 22 last year, the High Court granted a judicial review application by the two to overturn the order issued by the Home Minister to ban the book.
Judges Azizah and Wong in the majority decision in favor of the Minister of Home Affairs and the Malaysian government while Judge Gunalan was the other way around.
In the majority decision, Wong said he and Azizah had examined the content of the book and its title and based on an objective assessment, they were satisfied that the entire content of the book and its title gave a general message that the homosexual lifestyle was not prohibited by Christianity.
He said the judge who made the majority decision was satisfied that a reasonable minister would have reached the conclusion that the book was likely to affect public order, morals and the public interest.
Although no untoward incident occurred in the seven years since September 2013, the date of publication of the book, until the banning gazette, this does not deny the existence of the possibility of affecting public order, morals and public interest, he said.
The judge said under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, it was not necessary to give book publishers and authors the right to be heard. He also said that Section 7 of the Act also did not require the Home Minister to give a reason for the ban, adding that in any case, the Home Minister had given a reason in the gazette to ban the book.
In his dissenting decision, Gunalan said the High Court judge did not err in allowing the respondent's judicial review.
He said the judge had given sufficient consideration to the facts and circumstances as a whole and had correctly applied the principles of law before making the decision to allow judicial review.
On 18 Dec 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) gazetted a ban order against the book in accordance with Section 7(1) of the Printing Press and Publication Act 1984, which came into force on 27 Nov of the same year.
On 17 Feb 2021, Chong and Ngeo filed a judicial review claiming that the banning order was irrational and disproportionate because there had been no untoward incident caused by the book since it was published more than seven years ago.
The Home Minister and the government filed an appeal seeking to reinstate the ban which was lifted by the High Court on 22 Feb 2022.
