Malaysia is a modern Muslim nation with its cultures grown from a potpourri of ethnic mixes derived from some of the world’s oldest civilization with the majority of its people embracing Islam as their religion. Despite of Islam being the country’s main religion, the minority of Its people are still able to practice other religions peacefully. With the fusion of rich diverse societies In Malaysia, It Is perfectly understandable when Issues relating to Hall food Is claimed to be one of the mall concerns among the people in Malaysia. Ender the Shari law, the religion Islam revised a certain rules and regulations which revolves around the term known as Hall. According to “misgovernment” (n. D), the word Hall is originated from an Arabic word which means lawful. It refers to things permitted by the Shari law without punishment being imposed on the doer. The term Is usually used to describe something that a Muslim Is permitted to engage In such as eating and drinking. To ensure that the foods, beverages and daily products consumed and used are acceptable within the Shari law, the Malaysian government has developed a standard regarding Hall food.
According to Hall Malaysia (n. D. ), the MS 1 500:2009 Ender the name Making Hall: Penumbral, Pandering, Penalizing Dan Panamanian developed by the Malaysian Standard Development System contains practical outlines for food Industry regarding the preparation and handling of Hall food. It also serves to set up basic rules for food production and trades or food business in Malaysia. Under this standard, the usage of Hall logos and certificates are enforced to the food vendors and manufacturers by making it obligatory to place these logos and certificates on their food products and premises.
However, obtaining a Hall logo and certificates is not an easy feat as the food manufacturers and operators have to undergo and obey a series of procedures and also rules and regulations In order to get hold of both respective logo and certificates, According to Department Of Islamic Development (2011 1, the purpose of application falls fewer than three categories which are slaughter houses, food premises and products and the guidelines used differ according to the purpose of application.
Cabana Gamma Islam Pang (2007) stated that in order to apply Hall logos and certificates for slaughter house purpose, one must ensure that the slaughter house Is unattached to NY residence and each slaughterer is only allowed to slaughter 25 cows and 2000 poultry per hour. The slaughterer must also be a sane Muslim and holds Malaysian citizenship. As for food premises purpose, selling of alcohol is prohibited and the tools and appliances must be cleaned before and after use where the usage of these items is only permitted for the preparation of Hall food only.
Each staff is also encouraged to take Food Preparation and Hall courses. However, slight additions of regulations have been made for the Hotel food premises in the terms that the hotel management has to separate Hall food preparing kitchen from the Non-Hall ones between both kitchens. As for the products, the ingredients, processed stuffs or additives should be in the state of Hall and the environment where the products are being processed should be clean and free of pollution.
The manufacturing authorities of the product also cannot receive outside contracts for the intention of processing except for Hall products only. The production of Hall logos and certificates were once in the authorities of Hall Development Industry Corporation (HAD), but on 8 July 2010, the authority of producing these items are given back to Department of Islamic Development OAKUM) which were made effective immediately after being discussed in the Cabinet meeting (Coho, n. D. ).
Working with the organization hand in hand for inspection and enforcement purposes are officers from various agencies, ministries and departments such as Seminarian Prearranged Dalai Niger, Copperas Dan Septuagenarian, Ministry of Health, Seminarian Dalai Niger, Cabana Participated Veterinary, STEAM, GAIN and local authorities (Mood. Mari, 2010) . The food business in Malaysia is one of the lucrative, valuable businesses available that contributes to the economic growth of the country.
According to Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (2007), “the food-processing sector accounts for about 10% of Malaysia’s manufacturing output. The processed food in Malaysia are exported to more than 80 countries with an annual export value of more than ARM billion (USED 1. 6 billion) which makes up to two-thirds of the total food exports of over ARM 10 billion” (p. L). There are several factors that contribute to the mushrooming industry.
The rapid growth of food industry in this country is mainly caused by the increase in demand for food. “Malaysia’s current population of 26. 13 lion is growing steadily at the annual growth rate of about 2. 2%. With a majority Muslim population, Malaysia has a ready domestic market for Hall food. Recognized as a modern Muslim nation, Malaysia is well equipped to be an worldwide Hall hub food in the branding, processing, and marketing Hall food to Muslim populations.
This expanding intercontinental market is estimated at ARM 560 billion (USED 150 billion) per annum” (Malaysian Industrial Development Authority, 2007, p. 3). The incentives provided by the Malaysian government for investments in this particular industry also play a role in this ever-growing industry. With “Investment Tax Allowance of 100% for Hall food production and tax deductible expenses for Hall quality and safety certifications being some of the many rewarding incentives provided” (Malaysian Industrial Development Authority, 2007, p. ), it is no wonder that investors came pouring in to invest in the Hall food industry in Malaysia. “The country has seen a steady increase in the standard of living which contributes the boost of its purchasing power (per capita income exceeds ARM 18,100 or USED 4,781). Lifestyle change that occurred during the years also have led to an increase in the emend of convenience and health food” (Malaysian Industrial Development Authority, 2007, p. 3).
The escalating industry of Malaysia and the numerous benefits that comes along with it excites food entrepreneur, investors and operators to try their luck and have a go in this industry as it promises big profits to those who are involved in this business. Blinded by the big potential profits that may be gained, went to the extent of doing corrupt, immoral activities such as food vendors running their businesses using false Hall certificates and logos by using different forms of the respective items.
There are many reasons as to why people tend to commit these unscrupulous activities. The majority of them opted to forge and buy the certificates and logos from corrupt officers instead of applying them legally and undergo the right, legal procedures. The reason as to why some food operators and manufacturers tend to take the easy but illegal way out is because they despise undergoing lengthy application procedures and the wait for the approval and issuance of Malaysian Hall Certificates is tiresome.
According to Department Of Islamic Development Malaysia (201 1), “the new application procedures require the applicants to fill in the application form available online on their website. Applicants should also submit all relevant supporting documents within five working days of the submission of the application form and fee payment must be paid within 14 working days of the issue of charge letter. In order for their applications to be approved, one must not be issued with non-conformance report during compliance audit.
The time taken for an application to be approved is 30 working days of payment of fees while the duration for issuance of Malaysian Hall Certificate takes 5 working days of approval from the Hall Certification Panel”. Food operators and manufacturers that are well aware that their products would most probably not pass the compliance audit as they are certain that their products contain non-Hall ingredients also tend to resort to this heinous activity.
This unhealthy activity is a serious offense that concerns most of the consumers in Malaysia as the majority of population in Malaysia is made up of Muslim people. Forging can mislead Muslim consumers in making their choices as wrong information regarding certain products were given to the consumers. Sadly, this problem is still occurring in Malaysia even though there are law enforcement agencies that keep the law in place. According to Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary (201 1), forging is termed as the crime of falsely making or copying a document in order to deceive people.
Therefore, forging of Hall certificate means that falsifying Hall certificates with the purpose of deceiving people. The forgery of Hall certificates is a serious crime as according to Community Penguin Hall (2010), the statistic produced by Bagging Peninsula’s, Seminarian Dalai Niger, Copperas Dan Septuagenarian (SPANK) states that 60% UT of 66 cases regarding multiple offenses in the year 2010 involves the fabrication of Skim’s Hall logo. The factors that contribute to the falsifying of Hall certificates include irrelevant act and lack of technology application.
Irrelevant act is one of the many reason that play a part in the forging of Hall certificates as according to Community Penguin Hall (2010), the use of ACTA Perihelia Duggan (PAD) under the power of Seminarian Prearranged Dalai Niger, Copperas Dan Pentagonal is not effective in curbing the problem as the penalties imposed to the doers under this act such as fines and imprisonment doesn’t seem to affect the business of the respective offender. Lack of high technology applied in the production of Hall certificates has also made the respective certificates vulnerable to forgery.
A study by Answering (2009) found that JAMIE does not have any system for identification of legitimate Hall identification is proven to be a weak one as owners and manufacturers of food premises and products sneakily crafted the method of forging Hall certificates by scanning the legitimate Hall certificate owned by others and simply change the information with theirs (Answering, 2009). These problems are very hard to deal with especially for the Muslims as they are constantly lied to with the fake Hall certificates. This is why there should be more enforcement to curb this situation from being viral.
One of the ways that can be done to solve the problem is by enforcing a complete Hall Act which comprise from the rules and regulations regarding Hall products to the penalties imposed to the offenders who go against the act. The penalties imposed on the doers should also be heavier such as longer serving time in Jail and a bigger sum of fines. Besides that, their products should be taken off the market and their business should also be closed for good. JAMIE should also introduce the use of RIFF tags in the production of Hall certificates.
In this way, JAMIE officers can easily recognize the legitimate certificate from the forged ones when checking for the Hall certificates. As a conclusion, the Hall food industry is one of the most important industries in Malaysia as it helps in contributing towards the country economic growth. Despite the prosperous business of the industry, it also cannot help from having several issues which is mainly due to the unscrupulous acts of those who are involved in the industry, tainting the integrity of the respective authorities.
