Covas to McDonald: Your non-halal policy absurd
KUCHING: Consumer Voice of Sarawak (Covas) hoped fast-food chain McDonald would not extend to Sarawak its controversial policy of allowing only certified halal cakes into its outlets.
Its president, Michael Tiong, said the policy was not only nonsensical but also not customerfriendly, especially in a multicultural and -religious state like Sarawak.
Tiong said the ruling would cause segregation and destroy the multicultural concept that the people had been enjoying since time immemorial.
He suggested that if McDonald insisted on implementing it in Sarawak, then consumers should fight back by “putting it ( McDonald) as the last place to go for birthday celebrations”.
“We believe that the current move by McDonald is pure nonsense. If the cakes were produced by Muslims but if they were not certified halal, the cake is, therefore, immediately or automatically non-halal?” he wondered.
“Then all homemade cake, even those made by Muslims, immediately become nonhalal just because it is without certification.”
For centuries, such a sensitive issue never arise, until now, he said.
Certification is a modern way to let consumers know what is halal or non-halal. Its sole purpose is one of convenience of identification, not a rule to determine whether food is halal or not, Tiong argued.
On Thursday, McDonald Malaysia issued a statement saying that only halal- certified cakes would be allowed at its premises nationwide.
“This is in keeping with the requirements of its halal status granted by the Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim).
The popular fast-food chain said it had made an exception to the long- standing ‘ no outside food policy’ in the case of birthday cakes brought by patrons, but added that the cakes must be halalcertified.
In Petaling Jaya on Saturday, a national paper quoted Centre for a Better Tomorrow ( Cenbet) co-president Gan Ping Sieu as saying that there should be no restrictions on diners bringing in non-halal food into halal eateries.
Gan urged Jakim not to overstep its boundaries by extending the halal certification to premises, instead of just the food.
He said Jakim’s halalcertification only applied to the food served at F& B outlets, not the premises.
“While eateries have the right to ban patrons from bringing in outside food, the decision should be based on commercial considerations and not whether the food is halal certified or not. Jakim should not overstep its boundary by accrediting ‘premises’ instead of ‘ food’,” Gan was quoted as saying.
Gan, a former deputy minister, added that McDonald’s decision to allow only halal birthday cakes into its premises in order to preserve its halal- certified status would open the floodgates for more areas, such as public transportation and schools, to be classified along halal and nonhalal lines.
“This will only segregate the people along religious lines, especially at a time when there is a need to enhance unity in the face of rising extremism,” Gan said.
Cenbet also expressed concern that the halal issue had become a divisive national discourse in the last few months after a similar outcry over Auntie Anne’s having to replace its ‘pretzel dog’ with a different name in order to obtain halal certification.
“It is time for those in power to step up to the plate and display political will and not fall into the temptation of political pandering at the expense of dividing the people further,” said Gan.