Justice Supang Lian, who led the Court of Appeal panel, held that the lower court committed no appealable error in quashing the ban.

The panel, which also consisted of Justices Choo Kah Sing and Shahnaz Sulaiman, ordered the government to pay Boey RM30,000 in costs.

In urging the court to reinstate the ban, senior federal counsel Shahidah Nafisah Leman, appearing for the home ministry, said content in the book about an Indonesian maid was offensive.

She added that the Indonesian government had sent Wisma Putra a diplomatic note expressing its dissatisfaction.

Lawyer Gregory Das, representing Boey, said the book had been on the market for more than 10 years before the ban.

“The decision to ban cannot be justified on the grounds that action had to be taken here as a consequence of a protest outside Malaysia,” he said.

First published in 2014, “When I Was A Kid 3” was banned in September 2023 following protests by an Indonesian NGO in the republic.

The home ministry said Boey’s book contained material “likely to be prejudicial to morality” and ordered for its sale to cease under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court quashed the ban in March last year, with Justice Amarjeet Singh giving no reasons for his decision.

In the chapter that sparked the controversy, Boey recounted how his former Indonesian helper scaled a coconut tree at impressive speed, prompting a remark by his father that some readers might have found offensive.

Boey said his intention was not to offend anyone, but to commend the skills displayed by the woman.