Bak Kut Teh - Enjoy While you can
Corrupted Malaysian Government continues its quest for more ridiculous policies!
If we let it be... one day, bak kut teh, char kwai teow, wanton mee, curry laksa & many others won't be sold in M'sia because sellers cannot get halal cert.
What is becoming of Malaysia? The nightmare is evolving and those caught in it are mainly the Chinese and Indians, and perhaps multinational corp with operations in M'sia. I feel sad to receive this email.
Its so sad and what a terrible economic and commercial tragedy that hard working, honest, dedicated entrepreneur like your goodself has to face such kind of rulings in the food business.
It must also been horrific and financially disastrous that Dato Jackson 's Silverbird factory is forced to close down under such heart breaking circumstances.
I know about the IKEA's restaurant's shut down because of the so-called question on the alleged foodstuff halal certification.
May the mercy and compassion of God Almighty be upon Malaysia !!
God help this country !!
wrote:
Dr. Martin,
The Halal Hype that is going on in our country will force many SMIs involved in food production and distribution to close shop. JAKIM has muscled its way to make itself the Monopoly of the Halal certificate.
In April 2011 the Halal Act will be passed by Parliament where only Jakim has the monopoly to issue the certificate. Each certificate cost about RM1000 and with 2000 line items in my company I will have to foot out RM2,000,000 and that is if I am lucky to get all those approved. I might as well close down my business and retrench all the 60 staff with some 100 odd dependents. The Government will be deprived of some RM800,000 worth of taxes and duties. The Food standard will definitely decline as chefs will have less ingredients to work with.
The Halal procedures will increase the food cost by 10%. JAKIM does not care for the economy of the country. All it cares for is its rice bowl to ensure that it is relevant and seen to be working hard. Look at the way it closed down IKEA for two weeks. Look at the way it closed down Silverbird in Nilai. It does not care for the business environment in this country.
Even mineral water has halal logo. Eventually all vegetable, fish, grains, rice, etc will need halal logo. Eventually all Muslims will not touch all non Muslims if the Halal fever is allowed to spread. Even Saudi Arabia is not as strict as Jakim. I have suppliers who could sell their products into Saudi Arabia but not in Malaysia .
80% of the food industry is run by Non Malays. One of the criteria to obtain the Halal Certificate for restaurants is to employ Malaysian Muslim. If you do not have any Malaysian Muslim in your restaurant you will not be issued with a Halal certificate.
Where are we heading????
Please pass this on to your group of readers.
By Tony Pua
*Tony Pua is DAP's national publicity secretary and the MP for Petaling Jaya Utara.*
*COMMENT*
#1. All Umno elected representatives nationwide should immediately return all their salaries to the government as they come from non-halal sources. The recent controversy created by Umno politicians over the welfare funds given to old folks and the poor in Penang, that it was derived from non-halal sources such as gambling, shows that they are willing to be the biggest hypocrites in order to maintain their grip on power.
Firstly, the state government has clearly denied that such funds were used for distribution to Muslims, which means that these Umno politicians are lying through their teeth to gain political mileage.
Secondly and more importantly, their attempt to distinguish halal and non-halal revenue for Penang smacks of ultimate hypocrisy as the Federal Government headed by Umno, the Finance Minister who is also Umno president, Najib Tun Razak are the parties responsible for legalised gambling in this country.
Furthermore, had it not been for the opposition by Pakatan Rakyat, Najib would not have withdrawn the sports betting license awarded to tycoon Vincent Tan.
What's more, the Finance Ministry has responded in Parliament to MP for Rasah, Anthony Loke on June 9, 2010, that the government does not in any way differentiate the tax it receives from different revenue sources, be they from halal or non-halal activities.
"Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, buat masa ini, hasil daripada aktiviti perjudian adalah dikategorikan sebagai hasil cukai kepada Kerajaan... Bagi semua hasil daripada bayaran cukai ia akan dimasukkan ke dalam Akaun Hasil Disatukan sama seperti semua hasil Kerajaan yang lain dan digunakan untuk tujuan belanja mengurus dan pembangunan negara."
This means that all tax revenue collected are deposited into a single Consolidated Fund.
Hence, by virtue of the same argument Umno is using in Penang, all Umno elected representatives should immediately return all their parliamentary and state assembly allowances to the government as the revenue source is even more dubious than in Penang !
#2. Penang state opposition leader Azahar Ibrahim obviously could tell the difference when he claimed that "Umno assemblymen need not return their allowances as the state government's income was from tax revenue."
He's obviously ignorant of the fact, intentionally or otherwise, that taxes are paid to the federal government which are then redistributed back to the respective states as grants and loans.
The irresponsible actions of these Umno leaders who have raised these religious issues to create fear in the hearts of Muslims purely for political expediency has only resulted in another own goal for themselves making them look completely stupid and foolish.
It is Umno who approves all gambling licenses in the country, and it is the Umno federal government who uses tax revenue, regardless of source, to pay for all government expenses, including allowances of elected representatives and salaries of ministers and civil servants.
These Umno leaders should not only return their allowances back to the government, they should also demand that for future infrastructure projects such as highways built by the federal government, there should be lanes designated for Muslims and non-Muslims based on the proportionate breakdown of source of revenue used to build the roads.
All right thinking Malaysians should of course reject these ridiculous thoughts by Umno leaders to ensure that Malaysia don't become even more divided than it already is today.
#3. If every food that is sold needs to be HALAL, the Chinese, Indian, and even Malay hawkers will start an uprising !!!
Worst still, there are brainless JAKIM fools going around to "advise" restaurant and food outlet operators that it is better to get their goods from Mydin or Malay operated businesses as these goods will be more halal than getting from the nons. A1 sardine is more halal if purchased from Mydin compared to getting it from a chinese sundry shop ?? This is ridiculuos !! This is idiotic!!
As they were shouting and screaming halal this and halal that, they are blinded to the fact that corruption is one of the most haram things in Islam! Do we see them fighting corruption?
Hypocrites!!
