YOURSAY | The issue is not halal meats but bribery and corruption

YOURSAY | ‘Who controls the halal certifications? Who are the corrupted?’

Youth leaders urge govt to expose halal meat cartel players

Malaysia Bharu: It is inconceivable that one of the highest tenets of Islam pertaining to haram and halal has been knowingly infringed and the authorities are seen as dragging their feet to get to the bottom of it.

It is also disconcerting that this sacrilege on the Muslims was allegedly in operation for 40 years and none of them seem any the wiser.

And strangely, instead of the top Malay leadership and enforcement authorities, including the Islamic ones, springing to action, what we have are junior party stewards moaning and groaning for their masters’ attention.

This whole fiasco is so shocking and ironic as only recently there was a hue and cry among some bigots to shut down the non-halal section of a supermarket because it was situated in a Malay-majority area. The double standards or hypocrisy is simply mind-boggling.

Citizen: Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, don’t pretend you don’t know the identities of the cartels involved. They should be Muslims as they are given the licence to import halal meats.

By consuming the carcasses of horses, kangaroos, and cows after they died of whatever illness, they may be guilty of spreading infectious diseases.

Do the Islamic world a favour and catch these corrupt meat importers.

Apa Nama: Asyraf, I agree with you that names of the cartels and VVIPs should be exposed and shamed. Actions should be taken. Jail them, fine them, or even rotan (cane) them.

However, after all this, can you reverse the damage that has been done? Especially the Muslims who have already consumed non-halal meat for the last 40 years in this country, and are maybe still consuming to this day?

Asyraf, the damage has already been done by your leaders from your party due to greed. Once greed rules your mind, religion goes out the back door.

Actually, the sayings "what goes around comes around" and "you reap what you sow" seems very true in this case.

For your information, this meat cartel has been operating here forever. This is because corruption is a life-long pandemic in Malaysia since there is no mRNA vaccine for it.

Gaji Buta: Putting aside the lack of updates from authorities on the culprits, what is more interesting, or disturbing, is the zero information in the media and demands by their apathetic leaders on which products could have been contaminated. So much so that I saw a statement circulating online by Ramly Burger saying their patties are safe.

All Malaysians have a right to know which products are affected as some may not want to eat kangaroo or horse meat. In the West, products are pulled off the shelves immediately, if suspect, and detailed descriptions provided, even though they do not involve God.

Coward: It's the non-transparent process that is partly at fault. While I have no doubt some are outright fraudulent, there are borderline cases.

The non-transparency allowed both types of cases to be lumped together and be declared as fraud. We need to separate them. The fraudulent cases, of course, must be stopped. But the religious authority who had to make a decision on borderline cases needs our support.

By their nature, these decisions are difficult to make and they will not please everyone. The only way is to instil confidence in the process.

Making decisions in a closed-door manner, taking a "I know better than you" and "don't question my decision" attitude and staying mum or treating the public like s**t when they ask questions does not help instil confidence. It leads to problems like this.

Instead of being preoccupied with whether Christmas messages can be displayed in public, the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) should concentrate on educating the public on its important role in keeping the halal standard trustworthy, especially since Malaysia has the ambition and potential to become a halal hub.

So far, all I see is petty fighting over Christmas messages, and that does not inspire confidence in the international sphere. If this continues, we will be losing the fight to be the halal authorities of the world, losing even to London which had the same ambition, or worse, to Singapore because of poor decision-making.

Wsoi: Who controls the halal certifications? Who are the corrupted? As long as race and religion are used to marginalise others, the whole community will regress further.

Those in power are too selfish with their money and positions. The B40 (bottom 40 percent) Malays must rise to the occasion and kick all these greedy BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) politicians out of power. But instead, Pakatan Harapan was kicked out. So, be prepared to suffer more.

FairMalaysian: Don't tell me I have been eating kangaroo or horse meat passed off as mutton. No wonder my wife has been complaining they never tasted like mutton or lamb!

Some restaurants have been selling mutton dishes mixed with beef. I remember years ago there was an inspection and some restaurateurs were apprehended but then, that was it - no follow-up.

I have stopped eating mutton dishes in restaurants for years now unless I know the owners personally. These owners, some of them Muslims but respect my right and faith, have personally confided in me that the meat sellers do mix the meat to earn extra profits and since it happens at the “source”, there is nothing much they can do.

Funny though, having eaten mutton all my life, a friend offered us mutton curry one day when my wife and I visited her. Even before she served, she exclaimed it looked more like anything else except mutton and, to my horror, we knew it on sight that it was not mutton. She simply dumped it, all of it.

I had a strict upbringing - no pork, no beef kind of thing - and I carried my mother's advice with me when I was in London and to this day follow it strictly. But with these kinds of deceitful practices, is my attempt at adhering to my upbringing worth it?

When our father told us not to dine in mamak restaurants for fear of this beef mix-up thing, it didn't stop some of us from sneaking away to have our roti canai and teh tarik but, of course, with dhal only. These days, I eat at Muslim restaurants only when I dine with my Muslim friends.

Let me tell something that has warmed my heart. The wonderful Muslim friends I have had always respected my belief and made sure they give me food other than beef.

It is such a good feeling that they understand my background and make sure that my belief is respected. That is something I cherish, the mutual respect and friendship.

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