KDN Seized RM1.3 Million Of Adult Toys In One Year. The Word "Obscene" Is Not Defined Anywhere.

Between 18 January and 6 February 2024, Home Ministry enforcement officers raided premises in Johor, Sarawak, Penang and Perak and seized more than 2,295 units of adult products with an estimated value of RM70,000. In one Kuching shopping centre raid in January, 135 units worth RM10,890.50 were taken.

The Home Ministry's enforcement and control division reported that it had seized items worth a total of RM1.3 million over the preceding year.

In an earlier Sepang operation, a 57-year-old man was arrested on 19 December and charged on 2 February under s.292(a) of the Penal Code for distributing and selling obscene items, over a seizure valued at RM115,000, with individual items priced between RM70 and RM1,000.

And in 2024, a 29-year-old businesswoman in Penang was charged, convicted and fined RM2,000 for possession of 102 adult toys.

This is a real enforcement area with real prosecutions, and the fact that these products are visibly sold on Malaysian e-commerce platforms does not change that.

1. What s.292 actually covers

The provision is broader than "selling", and the structure matters:

s.292(a) — sells, lets to hire, distributes, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation; or, for the purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure or any other obscene object whatsoever.

s.292(b) — imports, exports or conveys any obscene object for any of those purposes, or knowing or having reason to believe it will be sold, hired, distributed, publicly exhibited or circulated.

s.292(c) — takes part in or receives profits from any business in the course of which he knows or has reason to believe such objects are made, produced, purchased, kept, imported, exported, conveyed, publicly exhibited or circulated for those purposes.

s.292(d) — advertises or makes known by any means that any person is engaged or ready to engage in such an act.

Penalty: imprisonment up to three years, or a fine, or both.

The phrase doing the work is "any other obscene object whatsoever". The section was written for books and pictures; the catch-all is what brings physical objects within it.

Note the possession limb carefully. Possession is an offence for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation — the provision ties possession to a commercial or circulatory purpose. That is the basis of the buyer/seller distinction in section 3 below.

There is a narrow carve-out for religious materials. There is no medical or wellness exemption. Labelling a device a "personal massager" or "health device" does not by itself place it outside the provision if it is treated as obscene and is being traded.

2. "Obscene" is undefined — and that is the central problem

The statute does not define the word. The test applied, following UK and Malaysian case law, is whether the item has a tendency to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences and into whose hands it may fall.

In Muhamad Ibrahim v Public Prosecutor, the accused possessed a large quantity of books deemed obscene, with potential for further circulation, and the conviction was framed around protecting the public — especially young people — from corrupting influence.

Whether a given adult product is "obscene" is therefore a question of interpretation, not a settled fact. Practitioner commentary describes the classification of these items as unsettled and the overall position as ambiguous — not clearly permitted, and not clearly prohibited.

AskLegal's earlier coverage of this topic put the difficulty well: the legal definition turns on what would deprave and corrupt public morals, and the law and the public may hold very different views about what that means.

This is the honest heart of the article. A statute with an undefined central term, applied to a product category the drafters did not contemplate, produces uncertainty — and that uncertainty is resolved in practice by enforcement decisions rather than by clear rules.

3. Seller risk vs buyer risk

These are genuinely different, and conflating them is the most common error in coverage of this topic.

Why the difference exists. Section 292 ties possession to purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation. There is no provision we located that specifically criminalises private ownership by an adult for personal use.

But do not read that as a green light. Two cautions:

First, the Penang case. A businesswoman was charged, convicted and fined RM2,000 for possession of 102 units. The quantity plainly supported an inference of commercial purpose — but as one law firm noted, it is unclear whether possession of a single item would be treated with the same severity. The line between "personal" and "for circulation" is drawn by quantity and circumstances, not by a bright rule.

Second, "not explicitly lawful" is not "lawful". The position is genuinely ambiguous and we are not going to represent it as safe.

4. The PPPA angle — and why it is unusual

Separately from the Penal Code, the Home Ministry has used s.7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

Section 7(1) empowers the Home Minister to gazette a ban on "any article, caricature, photograph, report, notes, writing, sound, music, statement or any other thing" deemed prejudicial to public order, morality, security, or likely to alarm public opinion — prohibiting its printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing, sale, issue, circulation, distribution or possession.

KDN has stated that sales of adult toys are prohibited under s.7(1) for eroding moral values, and has investigated seizures under both s.7(1) PPPA and s.292 Penal Code.

Lawyers have questioned the fit. The PPPA is a publications statute, and commentary has asked directly whether a physical object can be construed as a "publication". The same commentary notes the precedent of rainbow-coloured Swatch watches, where the prohibition was gazetted three months after the raid — raising the question of how the items were in violation at the time of the raid.

We are flagging that as a live criticism, not adopting it. But anyone assessing risk should know that the PPPA route is contested.

5. Customs and what happens to a seized parcel

The Customs Act 1967, s.31 empowers the Minister to prohibit imports by order — exercised through instruments such as the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order. Where an item falls within a prohibited-import category, Royal Malaysian Customs may detain or seize it at the border.

Courier policies compound this. Most courier services carry content policies barring adult items, and Malaysian courier guidance cites s.292 of the Penal Code as the reason obscene materials cannot be shipped.

If a parcel addressed to you is detained:

• You will usually be notified by Customs or the courier, or the parcel will simply not arrive and tracking will stall.
• You may be asked to attend or to provide documentation. Take advice before attending an interview.
• Do not sign anything you have not read, and do not make admissions about intended resale if that is not the case.
• The goods may be forfeited. Recovery is uncommon.
• Ask, in writing, under what provision the detention is made. Whether it is a Customs prohibited-import matter or a Penal Code investigation changes what follows.
• If you are told you are a suspect rather than merely a consignee, get a lawyer — see (The CPC Sections That Actually Govern Your Arrest: s.23, s.28, s.28A, s.117, s.112 and s.387).

Platform policy is separate from law. Shopee updated its guidelines in the period covered by the 2024 reporting. Platforms delist independently of any prosecution, and a delisting is not a legal finding.

6. If you sell these products in Malaysia

We are not going to tell you this is fine, because the enforcement record says otherwise.

The documented pattern:

• physical retail premises selling openly have been raided, including shops in shopping centres
• premises selling adult items alongside cosmetics, health products and souvenirs have been targeted
• online sales are expressly within scope — KDN has noted items sold online and urged e-commerce platforms to cooperate
• seizure values reported range from RM10,890.50 for a single shop to RM1.3 million across a year
• charges have been brought under s.292(a) Penal Code and investigated under s.7(1) PPPA

If you are already trading: take proper legal advice specific to your products and your channel. The relevant questions are how the items would be characterised, whether any gazette order applies, and your import position — none of which a general article can answer.

If you are considering starting: understand that "everyone does it" and "it is on Shopee" are not defences, and that s.292(d) makes advertising an offence in its own right.

What to actually do

As a private buyer:

• Understand there is no publicised prosecution of a private adult user, but the position is not explicitly lawful.
• Imports can be detained or seized, and you may lose the goods and be asked questions.
• Quantity matters. A volume that supports an inference of resale changes your position materially.
• Do not resell, distribute or gift onward — that moves you into the limbs that are clearly caught.

If contacted by Customs or KDN:

• Ask which provision is being relied on and get it in writing.
• Do not make admissions about commercial purpose.
• Get legal advice before any interview. Bar Council Legal Aid Centres: malaysianbar.org.my.

As a seller:

• Get advice specific to your products and channel.
• Note that possession for the purposes of sale, importation for sale, profiting from the business, and advertising are each separately caught by s.292.