Businessmen slam new ruling on `halal' labeling<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Food and beverage producers protested on Wednesday against a
\nplan by the government to change the current halal certification
\nsystem, saying that it would only increase bureaucracy,
\nproduction costs and corruption.<\/p>\n
If a food or beverage is halal, this means that it may be
\nconsumed by Muslims.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Food Forum chairman Suroso said that the proposed
\nnew system was designed to solely for the purpose of extorting
\nmoney from businesspeople rather than protecting Muslims from
\nconsuming forbidden foodstuffs and beverages.<\/p>\n
\"We fear that the government will attempt to extort us through
\nthe new halal labeling system,\" said Suroso during a press
\nbriefing held by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
\n(Kadin), and the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo).<\/p>\n
Suroso explained that the Ministry of Religious Affairs had
\nconcluded its revision of the existing government regulation on
\nthe halal labeling system without any consultation or input from
\nthe public.<\/p>\n
Currently, the draft revision has just been submitted to the
\nMinistry of Justice and Human Right for further editing. After
\nthis, it will be submitted to the President for endorsement, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Under the existing system, businessmen only need to pay
\nbetween Rp 1 million (around US$121) and Rp 2 million to obtain a
\nhalal label.<\/p>\n
This figure includes the cost of product inspection by the
\nMinistry of Health and for halal certification by the Indonesian
\nUlemas Council (MUI).<\/p>\n
However, under the proposed system businessmen will have to
\npay additional fees for package labeling and for paying a
\nsupervisory agency to oversee products labeled with halal
\ncertificates.<\/p>\n
The supervisory agency as proposed in the draft regulation
\nwill be a unit of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.<\/p>\n
Regarding the package labeling fee, it will be calculated
\nbased upon how many hologram stickers the government will issue
\nfor each type of package. The current regulation only obliges a
\ncompany to print a halal label on its package, which is obviously
\nmuch cheaper than producing hologram stickers.<\/p>\n
Business players have particularly objected to this aspect
\narguing that companies may have to make additional investments in
\nbuying new equipment to produce the stickers.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Apindo chairman Sofjan Wanandi said that the
\nproposed ruling would trigger an increase in food and beverage
\nprices as businesses would include the additional costs in retail
\nprices.<\/p>\n
\"Eventually, all the costs of halal certification will be
\ncharged to the customers. Don't make things any worse, for
\nIndonesian consumers are already hard-pressed as the prices of
\nbasic commodities have skyrocketed following recent fuel price
\nhikes,\" said Sofjan.<\/p>\n
Apindo, Sofjan said, had urged Minister of Religious Affairs
\nSaid Agil Husin Al Munawar to drop his plan on the issuance of
\nhalal certificates for both imported and domestic products as the
\nscheme would only encourage manipulation and renewed corruption.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/businessmen-slam-new-ruling-on-halal-labeling-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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