Writer, publisher fail in bid to challenge ‘Gay is OK’ book ban
Published on: Wednesday, February 28, 2024
By: FMT
The book, published in 2013, was banned by the home ministry in 2020. (Gerakbudaya pic)
PETALING JAYA: A writer and publisher failed in the Federal Court to get leave to appeal a government ban on their book titled “Gay is OK! A Christian Perspective”.
Justice Zabariah Yusof denied Ngeo Boon Lin and Chong Ton Sin leave to appeal the ban on the grounds that the duo had failed to satisfy the legal requirements in persuading the apex court to hear their appeal.
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Other judges who sat with her were Justices Hasnah Hashim and Nordin Hassan.
The panel ordered Ngeo and Chong to pay costs of RM30,000.
Last year, the Court of Appeal – in a majority decision by Justices Azizah Nawawi and Wong Kian Kheong – reinstated the ban imposed on the book on the grounds that the government did not commit any error of law in imposing the ban.
However, Justice Gunalan Muniandy dissented, saying that the ban should be revoked.
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The home ministry had in 2020 banned the book under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 on the grounds that it was an undesirable publication. The book was published in 2013.
The High Court had in 2022 quashed the ban, adding that the government “failed to show evidence of actual prejudice to public order that had occurred”.
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Ngeo and Chong were represented by lawyers K Shanmuga and Michael Cheah while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly and Sallehuddin Ali appeared for the home ministry.
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