Malaysian officials pose with sex toys seized from home
Sex toys are probably stashed in far more homes than discussed in polite society but even the most opened-minded among us will blush at the revelation of one Malaysia household. The Home Ministry revealed it seized over 1,000 sex toys worth more than RM115,000 (about 892,000 baht) from a single home in Kota Warisan, Sepang district, not far from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The items were not all for one sex-maniac owner though. The home was being used as a hub for the online sale of sex toys, which are not very legal under Malaysian law. Most of the items were made in Thailand and China.
Though the raid actually took place on December 19, the ministry paraded the cache of sex toys on Tuesday for a press conference. The toys are banned under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984 as they were “eroding the nation’s moral values.”
As a result of the raid, a 57 year old Malaysian man was apprehended and presented before the Sepang Magistrate’s Court on February 2. He was charged with the distribution and sale of obscene items under Section 292(a) of the Penal Code.
Photos were released of officials standing in front of hundreds of the seized sex toys at a press conference, though they were heavily blurred to protect delicate sensibilities. The secretary of the Home Ministry’s enforcement and controls division explained the danger this vast display of sex toys posed.
“The ministry is worried that the use of sex toys could affect the morality of Malaysians and, if uncontrolled, could lead to a decline in moral values and other social problems.”
Section 7(1) grants the ministry “absolute discretion” to ban media that is “in any manner prejudicial to or likely to be prejudicial to public order, morality, security, or which is likely to alarm public opinion, or which is or is likely to be contrary to any law or is otherwise prejudicial to or is likely to be prejudicial to the public interest or national interest.”
The government has been increasingly strict in its enforcement of moral values in recent years, with the Home Ministry regularly issuing warnings and public statements regarding social issues such as dress codes, premarital sex, and LGBT rights.
