KUALA LUMPUR – The Court of Appeal has reimposed the ban on the book titled Gay is OK! A Christian Perspective, after a 2-1 split decision this morning.
Bench chair Datuk Azizah Nawawi and appellate judge Datuk Wong Kian Kheong ruled in the government’s favour, while judge Datuk Gunalan Muniandy dissented, reported Malaysiakini.
Last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court overturned the government’s ban on the book, after judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin allowed a legal challenge to its prohibition.
On December 18, 2020, the Home Ministry gazetted a prohibition order on the publication under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, effective November 27, 2020.
On February 17, 2021, author Ngeo Boon Lin and publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise filed the judicial review leave application to quash the ministry’s ban, claiming that it was irrational and a violation of their freedom of speech.
There were also no incidents triggered by the book since it was published in 2013.
However, on November 1, 2021, then home minister Datuk Hamzah Zainudin told the court that the book could disrupt public order as it promoted homosexuality, and its contents had a tendency to incite the people to hold mass protests.
The defence then countered that the minister made a subjective evaluation of the book without reading it in its full context, and it provided an “alternative” view from a Christian perspective. – September 25, 2023