AMPANG, May 26 — Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) will sue Cadbury over its porcine-tainted chocolates, saying today that the confectionary giant had “insulted” and “mistreated” many Muslims who had unknowingly consumed its products.
Its president Azwanddin Hamzah said the Malay activist group’s legal action plan against Cadbury will be grounds of consumer negligence and for “misleading” Muslims.
He added that the company needed to be “taught a lesson” for belittling the Islamic faith in Malaysia.
“They stuffed pigs into our mouths, then apologised. This cannot be allowed. The sensitivities of Malays and Muslims have been challenged,” Azwanddin said in Malay at a news conference here.
“Cadbury has no excuse. They have been here for a long time. The majority of their consumers are Malays… even my children have consumed the tainted products,” he added.
Azwanddin said that over 700 Malay consumers had emailed JMM, expressing a desire for legal action to be brought against Cadbury.
He claimed that another 50 “Malay consumers” had contacted the NGO saying that they have kept receipts of their purchase of the tainted products.
“We want to sue Cadbury for RM100 million, and we will divvy up the money among those affected... if they can’t pay up they must shut down their operations here,” Azwanddin added.
The JMM chief also said that the group had formed a special legal task force with another NGO, Sukaguam and will be inviting other Malay groups to participate as well.
Cadbury’s Malaysian outfit scrambled to recall two batches of chocolate products found tainted with porcine DNA by the Health Ministry on Saturday.
In a statement, the company said it was informed that samples of its Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut and the Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond that had been sent to the ministry had “tested positive for traces of porcine DNA”.
Azwanddin said that the Cadbury issue showed the rights of Malays were constantly challenged and disrespected even though they were the majority race in Malaysia.
“Minorities have to respect the majority, that is how it should work,” he added.
The Malaysian Islamic Department has suspended the halal certification of the two porcine-tainted Cadbury chocolate products.
Rumours of the porcine taint first cropped up on social media sites last week, prompting the Health Ministry to carry out an analysis.
