When was the last time you see a restaurant with a sign saying “No Pork, No Lard” doing a roaring business with Malay-Muslim customers in Peninsular Malaysia? Chances are, no Malays would step their foot into such shops. If it was halal in the first place, the restaurant would put “Halal” instead of “No Pork, No Lard” sign. It was a no-brainer and a common understanding.

 

For a restaurant to display the “No Pork, No Lard” sign would mean not only it is a Chinese-owned restaurant, but is also a non-halal (forbidden) shop. Likewise, no Malay-owned food business will tell their customers that they don’t serve pork or lard, just like how Hindus restaurant will not put up a warning that they don’t serve beef. Again, it’s common sense in Peninsular Malaysia.

 

We mentioned Peninsular Malaysia because in East Malaysia (Borneo Sabah and Sarawak), the Muslims there somehow have a stronger faith (and superior intelligence) in Islam than fellow Malay-Muslims in West Malaysia (Peninsular). In Borneo, citizens of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and other major religions happily enjoy their food under the same roof without any sign of “No Pork, No Lard”, let alone Halal logo.

In Sabah and Sarawak, not all Muslims are Malays, but all Malays are Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia. To make it more complicated, the Bumiputeras in Sabah and Sarawak include all the indigenous groups, both Muslim and non-Muslim. However, everyone is a first class citizen in Borneo, whilst in Peninsular only the Malays are first class – the fantasized Masters or Lords of the country.

 

And based on this master-slave ideology, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) has publicly announced its proposal to make it a mandatory for restaurants and food companies that do not serve pork or alcohol to get halal certification. Clearly, it is targeting Chinese and Indian business owners – either deliberate or just to test the water for a bigger Islamization agenda.

 

The half-baked proposal, hatched by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na’im Mokhtar, has created concerns, confusion, even anger, as it was seen as interfering in the “internal affairs” of non-Muslims. Why should a vegetarian restaurant, for example, pay thousands of Ringgit for halal certification and Jakim consultancy when its targeted consumers are non-Muslims to begin with?

Even if the vegetarian restaurant willingly wastes money just to get Jakim’s endorsement, how many Malay-Muslims would eat there without any suspicion? Besides, just because there is no pork, no meat or no chicken, the food preparation might include some alcohol such as rice wine. In short, Malays don’t trust Chinese food no matter how halal they are, and the Chinese won’t bother to convince Malays about their “halal-ness”.

 

Heck, even Chinese Muslims from mainland China are struggling to attract Malay-Muslim diners to their restaurants in Malaysia, what more Malaysian Chinese restaurants, thanks largely to divide-and-rule and hatred policies of leaders like Mahathir Mohamad in stirring up inter-ethnic strife and discord. Crucially, ethnic Chinese who wanted to certify their halal products had already done so ages ago.

 

As of 2023, almost 72% or 165,026 out of a total of 229,204 products with halal certifications in the nation are owned by non-Muslim companies, while only 37,466 are bumiputera products. This simply means the other non-Muslims restaurants can automatically be considered as non-halal – even if they display “No Pork, No Lard”sign. It’s as simple as that.

The clueless and extremist Jakim should also be lectured that Muslims in Borneo do not need a halal logo to trust local non-Muslim seafood restaurants. To cut down the cost of doing business, a simple sign of “serve no pork” is all it takes for Sabahan Muslims to trust the restaurant because the Borneo people across the South China Sea are clever enough to understand that seafood can’t be non-halal.

 

But who can blame the moron Religious Affairs Minister and Jakim who thought they were super smart, but unaware that the world was laughing at them once upon a time, when U.S. pretzel chain Auntie Anne’s was told by Jakim that they need to change the name of their “Pretzel Dog” to “Pretzel Sausage” in order to receive halal certification. Jakim feared that there could be actually dog meat being used.

 

The controversy has attracted responses from Seputeh Member of Parliament Teresa Kok, who opposed the compulsory requirement for all food establishments that do not serve pork or alcohol to obtain halal certificates. As expected, UMNO Youth leader Akmal Salleh, a racist looking for any opportunity to score cheap political points, quickly slammed Teresa.

Not only the UMNO chief-instigator falsely accused Teresa of interfering in Islamic affairs, Akmal also displayed his poor Malay upbringing when he rudely ridiculed and insulted Teresa as a “Nyonya tua” (old Nyonya). In truth, as an MP, Teresa was merely voicing the problems faced by not only non-Muslim business owners, but also Malay food operators.

 

Yes, even small Malay businesses like “pasar malam (night market) traders” or roadside burger sellers or “nasi lemak sellers” would have to pay for the certification. It’s not hard to understand the pouring support for the old Nyonya. Teresa was championing the Malays’ business interest, who have to pay for a halal certificate, whereas Akmal was milking the issue for selfish gains.

 

When despicable Akmal kept receiving criticisms from his own community, UMNO’s ulama council deputy president Khairuddin Aman Razali (an UMNO bootlicker and a defector from Islamist party PAS) came to his rescue, twisting and spinning that Muslim-owned businesses can be excluded from the proposal as Muslims are already personally bound by Islamic rules on “halal and haram”.

It screams double standard even to the ordinary Malays, who condemned Khairuddin for ignoring the fact that there have been cases of Muslim-owned restaurants operating under unhygienic conditions. Based on Khairuddin’s idiotic logic, KFC does not need to renew the overpriced halal certificate and consultancy because the restaurant chain is Muslim-owned Johor Corp.

 

Exactly what’s the logic of Jakim shoving the halal certificate down the throat of Chinese and Indian restaurants, which Muslims have no interest to frequent anyway, but not the Muslim restaurants, of which 99% of its customers are Malays? The genius Akmal and the Religious Affairs Minister should explain why over 90% of Malay restaurants do not have the halal certification.

 

It’s both hypocrisy and hilarious for Jakim and racist Akmal to encroach into non-Muslim restaurants and start lecturing about halal-ness, when only 10% of Malay food operators are certified. Has toxic-mouth Akmal no shame that his own community has failed in the halal exam paper – scoring only 10% – but has the cheek to demand the Chinese and Indians to score 100%?

The biggest disappointment, however, is the forked tongue Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. When he needs the votes from non-Malays, he would lie and sing like a canary – “Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak or Kadazan, we are all one family”. But when Teresa Kok raised the concerns on behalf of the people, the premier appears to ganging up with Akmal against the Chinese MP.

 

Mr Anwar chose to throw Teresa under the bus, blaming her for stirring up an unnecessary hornet’s nest – indirectly telling the lawmaker from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), an ally in the Pakatan Harapan coalition being led by Anwar, to keep quiet or to discuss the matter internally behind closed doors. Not only it shows the PM lacks leadership, but also demonstrates cowardice.

 

Even if Teresa wanted to express the people’s displeasure over internal channels to keep narcissist Anwar in good picture, she can’t because it was Religious Affairs Minister Mohd Na’im Mokhtar who first raised it in an open forum without engaging with representatives like DAP. Teresa did not insult the Islam, but merely reacted and raised the peoples’ concerns about adding burden to businesses.

Has Anwar government reduced to dictatorship so much so that even lawmakers within the Unity Government no longer have freedom of expression? On the contrary, the premier should be ashamed of himself for sweeping under the carpet the issues related to Jakim halal certification that affects thousands of Malay small restaurant entrepreneurs. What type of Malay champion is Anwar anyway?

 

At best, PM Anwar tries to force DAP to bend over like MCA, the Malaysian Chinese Association infamous for being subservient to “Big Bully” UMNO Malay nationalist party for more than 60 years. He wants DAP to roll over like a lap dog when being screwed by Malay leaders like Akmal or Jakim. At worst, Mr Anwar was working hand-in-glove with Jakim to gradually Islamize every Chinese entity in the country.

 

Comically, in what appears like a damage control, the Prime Minister’s political secretary, Azman Abidin, suddenly says he believes that Jakim should not make halal certification compulsory for restaurants that do not serve pork or alcohol. This proves the controversial proposal has not been discussed in the Cabinet, therefore, Anwar was wrong to defend the Religious Affairs Minister while attacking Teresa.

If even Anwar’s political secretary disagrees with the Religious Affairs Minister’s proposal, presumably on behalf of the premier to save face, it means Teresa Kok has been right all along for voicing her rejection. So, why is the police wasting resources trying to make the DAP lawmaker looks like a criminal? MCA leaders too had expressed similar objection, but why the police aren’t taking any action?

 

So, when an ethnic Chinese lawmaker spoke against a dubious half-baked proposal which is bulldozed into non-Muslim territory, she is immediately being investigated, ridiculed and threatened for touching 3R (race, religion and royalty). But when a Malay minister unilaterally hatched a proposal which clearly triggered doubts, fear and anger among non-Muslim, he is free to do so.

 

Anwar could easily show his fair leadership by saying the proposal was just a preliminary study which still requires engagement with all stakeholders. Instead, he panicked and holds Teresa responsible for a screw-up caused by his own incompetence Religious Affairs Minister because that’s the only selfish and cowardly way to protect himself from being accused of anti-Islam and anti-Muslim.

If Anwar and Akmal really care about halal food, they should explain the status of meat scandal involving the corrupt Jakim, which the PM allocated RM2 billion in Budget 2024. Surely the fake halal meat scandal exposed in Dec 2020, where an underground “meat cartel” had been selling horse and kangaroo meat as beef to Malaysian Muslims for 40 years from 1980 to 2020 was worse than some Chinese restaurants with “No Pork, No Lard”sign.  

 

More importantly, if Anwar thinks he can repeatedly hoodwink the Chinese by speaking in Mandarin – “Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak or Kadazan, we are all one family” – then his party PKR (People’s Justice Party) should get ready for a nasty surprise come next 16th General Election. In the same breath, if lame DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke thinks the Chinese are forever DAP’s fixed deposit, he must be still drunk with power.

 

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September 10th, 2024 by financetwitter

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