PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here allowed the Home Minister and the government’s appeal to reinstate its order to ban the book Gay is Okay! A Christian Perspective.
A three-member panel of judges comprising Justices Azizah Nawawi, M. Gunalan and Wong Kian Kheong, in a majority decision, allowed the Home Minister and the government’s appeal to set aside the High Court decision.
The court also ordered publisher Chong Ton Sin and author Ngeo Boon Lin to pay RM15,000 costs to the Home Minister and the government for proceedings in the High Court and Court of Appeal.On Feb 22 last year, the High Court allowed a judicial review brought by the duo to quash the order issued by the Home Minister to ban the book, Bernama reported.
Justices Azizah and Wong made the majority decision in favour of the Home Minister and the Malaysian government while Justice Gunalan dissented.
In the majority decision, Justice Wong said he and Justice Azizah had gone through the contents of the book and its title and on an objective evaluation, they were satisfied that the book’s entire contents and its title gave a general message that the lifestyle of homosexuality is not prohibited by Christianity.
He said the judges who decided the majority decision were satisfied that a reasonable minister would reach the decision of the likelihood of the book being prejudicial to public order, morality and public interest.
He said even though there were no untoward incidents for a period of more than seven years from September 2013, the date of publication of the book, until the gazette of the ban, this does not disabuse the existence of the likelihood of prejudicial to public order, morality and public interest.Justice Wong said under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, it was not necessary to give the book publisher and author the right to be heard.
He also said that Section 7 of the Act also did not require the Home Minister to give reasons for the ban, adding that in any event, the minister had provided reasons in the gazette to ban the book.
In his dissenting decision, Justice Gunalan said the High Court judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin did not err when she allowed the respondents’ judicial review.
He said the judge had given adequate consideration to the facts and circumstances as a whole and had correctly applied the principles of law before coming to her decision to allow the judicial review.
On Dec 18, 2020, the Home Ministry banned the book under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act.
On Feb 17, 2021, Chong and Ngeo filed the judicial review claiming that the ban on the book was irrational and disproportionate as no untoward incidents were triggered by the book since its publication over seven years ago.
The High Court lifted the ban prompting the Home Minister and the government to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
