Ministries Square Off Over Meat Shipments
In what is fast becoming a “Tale of Two Letters,” 200 containers of beef are still impounded at Tanjung Priok port despite an order from the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy demanding their release.
The impasse appears to stem from two different letters issued by the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI), warning that slaughterhouses in Australia and New Zealand would have to satisfy additional requirements if they wished to retain their halal certificates.
After a meeting at the coordinating ministry’s offices on Thursday, an upset Bayu Krisnamurthi, the ministry’s deputy who chaired the gathering, said that the beef had been ordered released after it was discovered there had been a misunderstanding by the Agriculture Ministry over the MUI’s intentions.
Referring to the second letter, Bayu said: “The letter was issued on June 2, but it doesn’t become effective until October 1. The MUI wanted to give more time to the two countries to secure renewed halal certification from the MUI so as to be able to continue exporting beef to Indonesia.”
Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyanto, however, appeared unimpressed and immediately ordered the importers to return some of the containers of meat, despite the Coordinating Ministry being higher in the government’s chain of command.
Anton said he based his decision on an earlier, informal letter from the MUI notifying Australian and New Zealand exporters that changes in the halal regime were in the offing.
“This is based on the warning issued by the MUI on March 25 on the status of slaughterhouses in New Zealand and Australia,” Anton said at a media briefing on Thursday in Jakarta.
According to Anton, the MUI had stated in the letter that no slaughterhouses in New Zealand met the additional requirements for halal certification, while three slaughterhouses in Australia had been ruled unsatisfactory. He did not mention that the additional requirements were only due to become effective on Oct. 1.
In what could be considered a highly legalistic interpretation, Anton then concluded that all the meat that arrived in Jakarta before March 25, the date of the warning, was halal and could stay, while all the meat that arrived after that date would have to be sent back.
“We will identify which containers arrived before March 25 and which arrived after that,” he said.
Separately, the ministry’s head of quarantine service claimed that only 76 containers were detained at the port, not the 200 as stated by Bayu.
Thomas Sembiring, the chairman of the Indonesian Meat Importers Association (Aspidi), said that he never heard of the MUI’s March 25 letter. He also complained that the quarantine agency was still refusing to release the containers.
When asked why, he replied: “The bureaucracy at the port is never easy to deal with, especially if it concerns such sensitive issues as religion.”
The Quarantine Agency says it won’t release the meat until it receives an official letter from the MUI or the Agriculture Ministry.
“The impounding of the containers is causing a shortage of beef in Jakarta and surrounding areas and in West Java and Banten provinces, as 80 percent of the meat was destined for these three areas,” Bayu said, adding that beef prices were already on the rise as a result, with the fasting month nearing.
According to a Trade Ministry survey, the price of beef now stands at about Rp 60,000 ($6) a kilogram, compared with Rp 54,000 kilogram last week.
The impasse appears to stem from two different letters issued by the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI), warning that slaughterhouses in Australia and New Zealand would have to satisfy additional requirements if they wished to retain their halal certificates.
After a meeting at the coordinating ministry’s offices on Thursday, an upset Bayu Krisnamurthi, the ministry’s deputy who chaired the gathering, said that the beef had been ordered released after it was discovered there had been a misunderstanding by the Agriculture Ministry over the MUI’s intentions.
Referring to the second letter, Bayu said: “The letter was issued on June 2, but it doesn’t become effective until October 1. The MUI wanted to give more time to the two countries to secure renewed halal certification from the MUI so as to be able to continue exporting beef to Indonesia.”
Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyanto, however, appeared unimpressed and immediately ordered the importers to return some of the containers of meat, despite the Coordinating Ministry being higher in the government’s chain of command.
Anton said he based his decision on an earlier, informal letter from the MUI notifying Australian and New Zealand exporters that changes in the halal regime were in the offing.
“This is based on the warning issued by the MUI on March 25 on the status of slaughterhouses in New Zealand and Australia,” Anton said at a media briefing on Thursday in Jakarta.
According to Anton, the MUI had stated in the letter that no slaughterhouses in New Zealand met the additional requirements for halal certification, while three slaughterhouses in Australia had been ruled unsatisfactory. He did not mention that the additional requirements were only due to become effective on Oct. 1.
In what could be considered a highly legalistic interpretation, Anton then concluded that all the meat that arrived in Jakarta before March 25, the date of the warning, was halal and could stay, while all the meat that arrived after that date would have to be sent back.
“We will identify which containers arrived before March 25 and which arrived after that,” he said.
Separately, the ministry’s head of quarantine service claimed that only 76 containers were detained at the port, not the 200 as stated by Bayu.
Thomas Sembiring, the chairman of the Indonesian Meat Importers Association (Aspidi), said that he never heard of the MUI’s March 25 letter. He also complained that the quarantine agency was still refusing to release the containers.
When asked why, he replied: “The bureaucracy at the port is never easy to deal with, especially if it concerns such sensitive issues as religion.”
The Quarantine Agency says it won’t release the meat until it receives an official letter from the MUI or the Agriculture Ministry.
“The impounding of the containers is causing a shortage of beef in Jakarta and surrounding areas and in West Java and Banten provinces, as 80 percent of the meat was destined for these three areas,” Bayu said, adding that beef prices were already on the rise as a result, with the fasting month nearing.
According to a Trade Ministry survey, the price of beef now stands at about Rp 60,000 ($6) a kilogram, compared with Rp 54,000 kilogram last week.