"The Halal Hype that is going on in our country will force many SMIs involved in food production and distribution to close shop. JAKIM has muscled its way to make itself the Monopoly of the Halal certificate. In April 2011 the Halal Act will be passed by Parliament where only Jakim has the monopoly to issue the certificate.
Each certificate cost about RM1000 and with 2000 line items in my company I will have to foot out RM2,000,000 and that is if I am lucky to get all those approved. I might as well close down my business and retrench all the 60 staff with some 100 odd dependents.
The Government will be deprived of some RM 800,000 worth of taxes and duties. The Food standard will definitely decline as chefs will have fewer ingredients to work with. The Halal procedures will increase the food cost by 10%. JAKIM does not care for the economy of the country. All it cares for is its rice bowl to ensure that it is relevant and seen to be working hard.
Look at the way it closed down IKEA for two weeks. Look at the way it closed down Silverbird in Nilai. It does not care for the business environment in this country.
Even mineral water has halal logo. Eventually all vegetable, fish, grains, rice, etc will need halal logo. Eventually all Muslims will not touch all non Muslims if the Halal fever is allowed to spread.
Even Saudi Arabia is not as strict as Jakim. I have suppliers who could sell their products into Saudi Arabia but not in Malaysia .
80% of the food industry is run by Non Malays. One of the criteria to obtain the Halal Certificate for restaurants is to employ Malaysian Muslim. If you do not have any Malaysian Muslim in your restaurant you will not be issued with a Halal certificate."
This is probably what we need next:
1 comment:
Mr. Kok....I find your comment rather cynical and baseless.... 1st off.. which country are you staying-in? Or may i ask, which planet are you from? Since when did JAKIM charge RM 1000 per line item for Halal certification application???? I believe you must have gotten the wrong info from private Halal agencies such as IFRC Bahtera Lagenda SAS-H Consultancy, .... IFANCA International or even Halal Food Council S.E.A.... but definitely NOT frm JAKIM.
Saudi assumed that they are nearer to Kaabah... that is why they neglect the basics of Halal. They neglect their gelatine, additives and emulsifiers. Are they made locally or imported? If they are imported, are they sure these are Halal? That has made them think again. Now these countries are aware and are interested in setting up their own Halal certification body and have asked for JAKIM assistance...
Like in Msia, our tomyam & nasi kandar restaurant did not even bother to apply Halal Jakim cert becoz they assume Halal is only about 'slaughter or un-slaughtered in Islamic way'. As you mentioned about water...FYI,water from the pipe is not a problem but when it comes to distilling water, some parts of the equipment can be made up of bones and if the animal is not slaughtered then the water is not Halal. So, before you judge.... i hope you do a bit more research.
If you are really keen to get your products certified Halal... do take effort to get to know the understanding of Halal a little bit more... ask JAKIM or get a Malay friend to help you out.... it is for the sake of flourishing your business... If that are your intentions... Wishing you all the best. And i hope you do not mock issues like this and manipulate it for political sake.... It is not healthy especially when Malaysia is a multi-racial country....
Post a Comment