While
Indonesia is attempting to tackle halal certification corruption in its own
country, Australia turns a blind eye, allowing an open slather, for fear meat
exports may be affected.
Indonesia has a population of
around 237 million people. It has the largest number of Muslims of any country
in the world and is home to 13% of the world’s entire Muslim population. It
also happens to be our nearest neighbour and a lucrative export market.
In Australia, halal red meat
production for export is governed by the Australian Government Muslim Slaughter
Program (AGMS). The AGMS is underpinned by legislation through the Australian
Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).
AQIS introduced the AGMS
program in 1983 to regulate the production of halal meat and meat products. The
AGMS is controlled by legal requirements in the Export Control (Meat and Meat
Products) Orders under the Export Control Act of 1982, and applies to red meat,
offal and meat products.
If you want to call food
halal in Indonesia, then labelling is mandatory.
The ‘pig scare’* crisis in
Indonesia in 1989 led to the formation of the nation’s halal certification
authority; the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) or the Indonesian Clerics Council
which enforces the Republic of Indonesia’s health and labelling Acts.
(*Pork was detected in
meatballs from thirty nine different meatball shops in the Surabaya and
Yogyakarta region.)
In Australia halal certifiers
have needed to seek approval from the MUI for the licensing rights to halal
certify for exports into the Indonesian market.
In 2006, the MUI was caught
up in an Australian corruption scandal dubbed by the Indonesian media as, ‘Halal
for Cash’.
Australian halal certifier,
Mohamed El Mouelhy, (there’s that name again) made allegations of
corruption against the then Chairman of the MUI, Amidhan Shanerah.
Several Australian certifiers
paid a total of $28,000 personally to Shanerah for travel expenses to and from
Australia. El Mouelhy contributed $4,000.
Shanerah denied that the
Australian certifiers had funded the trip. He claimed that the State
(Indonesia) paid for the trip. The allegations claimed Shanerah pocketed the
funds paid to him personally by the Australian certifiers.
Following Shanerah’s junket
to Australia, all the “donating” certifiers were approved, except Mr El-Mouelhy
who was refused certification because he was unqualified, being neither an
Islamic law expert nor a food scientist. He remains unaccredited and unable to
certify halal in Indonesia.
Subsequent to the corruption
allegations, changes were made to halal certification in Indonesia.
It’s reasonable to ask if Mr
El Mouelhy would have made such a fuss had he received his halal
certification accreditation.
Following this public
corruption scandal, the Indonesian government introduced a bill on halal
certification so as to transfer the halal certification authority from the MUI
to a new, independent body. It was claimed this was done for the protection of
Indonesian consumers.
The Religious Affairs
Minister Suryadharma Ali said that taking over the authority to issue halal
certification from the MUI was part of an effort to “uphold the principle of
fairness”.
He said, “Other Islamic
organisations will be jealous and will demand the same role. Besides, it is the
government that has the mandate to issue a regulation, not a mass
organisation.”
The Minister proposed, in a
new arrangement for halal certification, that the MUI could still be involved
in providing recommendations but only from a “religious perspective”.
Suryadharma Ali, who is the
chair of the Islamic-based United Development Party (PPP), said that by
eliminating the role of the MUI, the government could also reap additional tax
revenues from the issuance of halal certificates.
Under the current
arrangement, the MUI gets to keep all proceeds derived from the issuance of the
certificates. The MUI charges 5 million rupiah (approx $400) for a halal
certificate.
Tasked with deliberating the
bill, Lawmaker Hasrul Azwar, a member of the House Commission overseeing
religious and social affairs, said the MUI had never been transparent about
what it earned from halal certification.
Hasrul Azwar, also a PPP
politician, said that once the government had control of the halal
certification process it would not only reap more revenue for the state but
could also help curb extortionate practices. “We plan to break down the
components of costs involved in the issuance of each certificate to prevent
businesses from being charged illegal levies. We have to control it”, he said.
The draft bill also proposes
the establishment of an independent halal-certification body, which is
currently being formed.
Australia, however, still has
no regulation of the halal certification ‘industry’. Unqualified Muslims are
allowed to proliferate and prosper at the expense of mostly non-Islamic
consumers.
Indonesia with 210 million
Muslims, 85% of the population, has one government appointed halal certifying
body. Australia with 500,000 Muslims, 2.2% of the population, has 33 listed
halal certifiers.
And the government appoints
not a single one of them!
Halal certification in
Australia is entirely unregulated and runs rampant through our consumer
markets.
After eight years of dispute
with the MUI, the Indonesian government has only just reached an agreement with
it to finalise legislation for an independent consumer-based body to regulate
halal certification.
In contrast, Australia’s
halal certifiers are growing like weeds through our economy, reaping billions
at the cost of the consumer and taxpayer, certifying anything and everything
that moves, or doesn’t move.
In Indonesia, the MUI will
continue to halal certify until 2018 at which time it will hand over to the new
body. Part of its submission to government is that it wants halal certification
to be mandatory on all foods, goods and pharmaceuticals which is attracting
strident opposition from Indonesian consumer and industry bodies. Yet it attracts
little attention here.
The Indonesian Association of
Food and Beverage Companies is against halal certification saying that applying
halal labels is a “heavy burden on industry”.
That same heavy burden is
occurring here in Australia.
Indonesia, in respect of
out-of-control halal rorting, is strangely well ahead of Australia in tackling
the problem. It’s time for Australia to catch up.
CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS
On 24 February last year,
Jakarta’s “Tempo” magazine reported on wide-spread allegations of corruption in
halal certification.
Tempo reported: (excerpts)
“Corruption, it seems, knows
no bounds of time or place. Even when it comes to halal labels - which guarantee
foods contain nothing that is haram, or forbidden for religious reasons - has
now become a target for manipulation.
“The certificates should be
issued free of charge to avoid causing problems for companies and consumers
alike. In practice, however, producers are made to pay for the costs of testing
food and drink products, and there is no transparency over the tariffs charged.
This has led to an ironic situation: halal certificates are issued through a
haram process.
“The MUI works with
certification organisations in several nations. And it is here the opportunity
for abuses emerges.
“Because of such bribery, the
performance of the halal-label issuing companies has never been audited.
“One of the ongoing debates
concerns whether certification should be voluntary or obligatory. The
Indonesian Association of Food and Beverage Companies is of the view that
applying halal labels is a burden on the industry.
"The MUI Food, Drugs and
Cosmetics Research Agency has set an administration fee of Rp6 million per
product, but in practice there are other costs which are unclear and which can
run to tens of millions of rupiah. As a result, not only will consumers pay
more, the competitiveness between local products is affected.
“These indications of abuse
must be followed up. The MUI must explain where funds from issuing halal
certification have gone. This non-government organisation, which gets some
funding from the State Budget and which manages public funds from halal
certification, must be made more transparent through an audit by the Supreme
Audit Agency.
“Far-reaching measures are
needed to deal with this problem. The Indonesian Consumers Association once
proposed that halal labels be replaced with non-halal certificates. In other
words, rather than labelling food as halal, haram food should be separated from
halal food.
“This concept is based on the
simple assumption that most food in Indonesia is processed according to halal
procedures anyway, and uses ingredients that are not haram.
"Products that are not halal,
such as those containing pork or alcohol, would have to be labelled
accordingly. This method would be more practical, less complicated and
infinitely less costly.
"Mohamed
El Mouelhy, (he just keeps popping up) so called president of the
Sydney-based Halal Certification Authority told Tempo."It's common
knowledge in Australia that in order to get authorisation you have to bribe MUI
officials." (end excerpts)
El-Mouelhy said that his
“organisation” and six other Australian “institutions” had together paid
$A28,000 to MUI officials in 2006, of which "the largest share" went
to MUI Chairman at the time, Amidhan Shanerah.
El Mouelhy however did
not receive authorisation in return so his accusations may be somewhat skewed
as a result of his belief that he was dudded.
Australian Halal Food
Services (AHFS), a Melbourne-based business, told Tempo they paid bribes to
senior MUI officials to renew their licences to certify abattoirs as
halal.
These bribes ranged from
$A3000 to $A10,000 and were put directly in the bank account of Amidhan
Shanerah.
MUI angrily responded via
Tempo in these terms:
In March last year, the
current Chairman of MUI, Muhammad Sirajuddin Syamsuddin stated that the MUI
recognises dozens of halal certifiers in Australia. In fact, there was only
one who failed the test and that was none other than Mohamed El-Mouelhy.
The halal certification
company owned by this Mouelhy man was disqualified in 2006 because he had no
scientific involvement in his business, and no Islamic law experience, even
though he claimed to be an expert himself because he was Egyptian.
But the MUI claims there must
be at least two people involved, one Islamic law expert and one Islamic
scientist.
Director of meat processors
JBS Australia, John Berry, told Tempo the high cost of halal certification was
limiting business and was concerning to Australian meat exporters who deal with
Indonesia.
These explosive accusations
have sparked an outcry among Indonesians who slammed the MUI monopoly of the
halal industry deeming its conduct as ‘haram’.
Sat, March 01 2014 (excerpts)
“For decades the stench of
the lucrative 'business' behind halal certification has been more than apparent
to the public, but suspicions have drifted with the passing winds.
“That is until a “halal for
cash” story, allegedly involving the Indonesian MUI, was picked up by Tempo
magazine.
“The MUI brings together
Muslim figures from various Islamic organisations whose integrity and knowledge
about Islam is beyond question.
“Therefore, it has been taken
for granted that everything the MUI did was for the good of the ummah (the
Muslim community).
“Tempo quoted Mohamed
El Mouelhy, (there’s that man again) admitting to having spent $A28,000 on
airfares, hotel and lodging and travel allowances when he arranged the visit of
MUI officials, including chairman Amidhan Shanerah.
“Amidhan Shanerah branded
El Mouelhy’s remarks as libellous, saying his trip was covered by the
Indonesian Government.
“The struggle for power has
intensified not only because of the “halal for cash” report but also, and more
importantly, because of the Government’s bid to control halal
certification.
“As certified products are
for public consumption, a strict control mechanism is imperative. Under the
existing arrangement, no-one dares to exercise oversight of the MUI.” (end
editorial)
While Indonesia is attempting
to tackle halal certification corruption in its own country, Australia turns a
blind eye, allowing an open slather, for fear meat exports may be
affected.
But, aside from meat,
corrupted practices right here in Australia are deleteriously affecting all of
Australia’s domestic consumers.
NEXT: ‘IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF
SHAITAN (SATAN)’. ISLAMIC CLERICS CONDEMN HALAL CERTIFICATION
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