Comment: MUI wary amid barrage of Chinese halal food

Nov. 10, p. 1

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) confirmed a sharp rise in halal food products coming from China, but it remains skeptical over China’s halal industry, which is presumed to still be in its developmental stage.

“The number of halal products from China has increased by 50 to 100 percent since last year,” MUI Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM) chief Lukmanul Hakim told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Your comments:

According to the article, the halal products from China come from Ningxia, where Muslims have developed a halal industry with more than 10,000 halal factories and restaurants.

Yet, the MUI and the LPPOM refuse to cooperate with them “because of their political situation”, because of suspicion (“China could be inclined...”) and unproven speculation (“Lukmanul believed ...”)? Appallingly enough, they have no problems accepting halal-products from countries like Brazil, the USA and New Zealand.

But they “have to make sure that they are really halal” when coming from their own brothers in faith in China, who cooperate with halal institutions in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Malaysia, where they pay a stricter attention to halal products than in Indonesia? What a shameful joke!

Edo E.