Bumiputera products not halal by default, says deputy minister

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Bumiputera products do not necessarily become halal products automatically, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Fuziah Salleh

“When you are a Bumiputera industry player, it does not make your product automatically halal, that’s not the mindset that we are bringing. What we are saying is the principle of Halalan Toyyiban.

“Some Malay Bumiputeras do not adhere to the principles of Halalan Toyyiban. You go to the kitchen; it may not be clean. So we (Jakim) have to ensure this principles of Halalan Toyyiban. It’s about educating people about the aspects of Halalan Toyyiban,” she told a press conference at the Global Halal Summit 2019 here today.

Fuziah said Muslim entrepreneurs who want to be an industry player and global leaders need to break away from the mindset that takes for granted the aspect of Halalan Toyyiban.

Meanwhile, Fuziah said based on the potentials of the global Islamic economy, a lot of the industrial players all over the world were interested to produce halal products for the purpose of exporting to other countries.

“Therefore, halal industry players must obtain the halal certification from the credible halal certification bodies to convince the customers and they had to ensure the logo or the certificates are accepted by the authorities at the importing countries.

“As of February 13, Jakim has recognised 78 Foreign Halal Certification Body from 45 countries worldwide and this figure is expected to grow in the future. Currently, we have 40 more international halal bodies to be recognised by Jakim,” she said.

On other developments, Fuziah said the proposal for the Malaysian Halal Council Act, aimed at coordinating all halal agencies under Jakim to ensure the standard of halal certification is at its best, has been drafted and would be tabled at the Parliament. — Bernama