Jakarta, March 3 (Antara) - The Indonesian Muslims who are accounting
for 90 percent of the country's 240 million, are awaiting the issuance
of a law on 'halal' (permitted under the Islamic law) products.
'Halal' products so far are only decided with a certification label by
the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI). After all, only 59.01 percent of
the 175,157 products in the country already have the 'halal' labels.
The government and the House of Representatives (DPR) have been
deliberating a draft law on 'halal' product guarantee in the past nine
years, but the bill has not yet been passed into law.
"We hope the bill will not face a too long problem so that it would be
enacted into law quickly," Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin
Umar said on Monday.
The regulation is now formulated in the Draft Law on Halal Product
Guarantee. Unluckily, the bill has now entered its ninth year, yet it
was not yet enacted into law.
"I cannot see any vested interest which delays the enactment of the
bill on the halal product. In the past period (2009), we had tried to do
it but we finally failed," he explained.
Nasaruddin expressed concerns that if the bill is not passed into law
immediately it will harm the interest of Muslims who had been waiting
for it for a long time.
In fact the enactment into law of the bill will provide a legal basis
for certificating products with 'halal' labels, which in turn will boost
the country's business development.
"The
halal certification will trigger the growth of businesses," Ace Hasan
Syadzily, a legislator of the House Commission VIII on religious and
social affairs, said.
The
protracted deliberation of the halal product draft law was due to the
differences in opinion between the DPR and the government, particularly
with regard to a new institution.
The
DPR wanted the authority to be given to the MUI, while the government
wanted the institution to be under the government as the MUI did not
belong to the government.
According
to Syadzily, halal certification will cause the country's industrial
products to be more acceptable to the nation's predominantly Muslim
population. And this will boost further domestic consumption and drive
up production in the real sector and boost national economy.
Regarding
the institution which has to have the authority to provide halal
labels, Syadzily said that it had better for the government to form a
special institution formed for that purpose.
"A special institution must be formed which will be assigned to provide
halal certification without ignoring the participation of the
Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI)," he said.
He said that the MUI played an important role in providing references
on Islamic legal aspects regarding a product. The government in the
meantime played the role as the issuers of the halal certificates.
However, according to Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin
Umar, the "halal" certification of goods should ideally be decided by
the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and the government.
"The government has no right to decide on issues relating to 'Shariah'
(Islamic law) as it is the MUI's realm. But, we hope that matters
regarding the regulations on the halal issue will involve the
government," Umar stated.
So far, the "halal" or "permitted under the Islamic law" certification
issued by the MUI has no legal validity or legal effect. If it involves
the government, the certification will be valid, both in terms of
Shariah and the legal system of the state.
"We hope that the Bill on Halal Product Guarantee (JPH) will be soon enacted into law," he asserted.
Nasaruddin Umar said the people have rights to halal products that should be guaranteed by the government.
"The people have the basic rights to halal products, hence the
government should regulate it," the deputy minister stated here on
Monday
The regulation is now formulated in the Draft Law on Halal
Product Guarantee. Unfortunately, the bill has now entered its ninth
year, but it has not yet been enacted into a law.
"I cannot see any vested interest, which delays the enactment of the
bill on halal product guarantee. In the past period (2009), we had tried
to do it and almost accomplished it, but we finally failed," he
explained.
Nasaruddin
expressed concerns that if the bill is not immediately passed into a
law, it will harm the interests of Muslims who had been waiting for it
since long.
"We hope the bill will not encounter any problems, and thus, it can be
quickly enacted into a law," the deputy minister added.
He admitted that the House of Representatives (DPR) was serious in
deliberating the bill. However, he understands how the DPR functions.
In the meantime, Chairman of the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) Jusuf
Kalla emphasized that the halal certification should have been jointly
worked out between the MUI and the government.
"The halal substances should be formulated by the MUI and their
regulation should be issued by the government," added Jusuf Kalla, who
is also the former vice president.
Jusuf Kalla explained that the halal certificate binding will not be
strong if it was decided only by the MUI. Thus, the government's role in
it was necessary.
Allegations are rife about the MUI planning to withdraw its licenses
(halal certificates) from products whose companies or organizations
holding the license have failed to pay the cost.
However, MUI Chairman Amidhan Shaberah denied the allegation, stating
that the issuance of such a license should be free of charge as long as
it fulfilled the seven requirements set by the MUI.
In the meantime, Director of MUI¿s Drugs, Food and Cosmetics Assessment
(LPPOM MUI), Lukmanul Hakim said certification of products would not
burden companies.
"The cost for the issuance of a halal certificate will not burden
businesses. For a food product, the halal label cost will not likely
exceed the product packing cost," said Lukmanul Hakim.
Apart
from that halal certification would increase the sales turnover of the
businesses while Muslim consumers would feel safe.
"That cost has to be spent is something that could not be avoided,"
said Lukmanul Hakim when granting a halal product label to a bred
product in Bogor, West Java, last week.
The cost for halal certification from Indonesia Ulemas Council (MUI)
varies depending on the number of products and factory capacity,
Lukmanul Hakim stated.
"The
cost is Rp1 million to Rp5 million for middle up enterprises and zero
to Rp2.5 million for small enterprises," Lukmanul Hakim pointed out.
That cost excluded transportation and accommodation for the auditor,
especially for overseas audit. The granting of transportation and
accommodation, according to Lukmanul, are not gratification.
"All costs are preferences. There are no gratifications because MUI is not a state institution," he explained.***1***
(T.A014/a014 )
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 03-03-2014 23:4 |
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