KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) today clarified that halal certification holders are not prevented from writing festive greetings on cakes or similar.
Jakim advised all halal certification holders to refer to Jakim for any confusion regarding halal certification in Malaysia in a post on its Facebook page.
“Once again we would like to inform you that there is no obstacle for Malaysian Halal Certificate (SPHM) holders to write any form of writing related to celebration greetings on cakes or similar,” it said.
It was commenting on an internal memo from a local bakery that allegedly disallowed staff from writing “merry Christmas” or “X’mas” on cakes even if requested by a customer.
The memo dated December 14, 2023, and purportedly signed by the bakery’s operations manager, which went viral on social media, said this was due to the bakery holding a halal certificate and being subject to Jakim’s rules and regulations.
It also advised staff to use a “seasons greetings” card topper instead.
Jakim went on to say that it had previously addressed this matter in November this year and on Christmas in 2020.
According to a report from The Star, Jakim last month said: “Jakim stresses that festive greetings are allowed on products if they were not made with the purpose of being displayed in the premise that has the halal certification or on products marked with the halal logo.
“This is because there are no provisions about the celebration of any festivals including Islamic celebrations stated in the Malaysian Halal Certification Procedure Manual (Domestic) 2020.”
Last night, The Star reported Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Mohd Na’im Mokhtar as saying that halal certification holders are not restricted from writing festive greetings on cakes.
