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Winai Dahlan: Advancing halal science

JP/Yuliasri PerdaniWinai Dahlan paused and smiled as he saw the next slide of his presentation at the Halal Science Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

Yuliasri Perdani (The Jakarta Post)
Bangkok
Fri, March 8, 2013

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Winai Dahlan: Advancing halal science

JP/Yuliasri Perdani

Winai Dahlan paused and smiled as he saw the next slide of his presentation at the Halal Science Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

His presentation was about the history and role of the Halal Center, which he initiated in 1995, but he had inserted another slide that was close to his heart.

The projector displayed the poster of Sang Pencerah (The Enlightener), a 2010 Indonesian box office movie centering on the life of Ahmad Dahlan, the founder of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia.

“They are my grandfather and grandmother, Ahmad Dahlan and Nyai [Mrs] Ahmad Dahlan,” he said, pointing to the man bearing blangkon (Javanese headdress) and a veiled woman on the poster.

“This has no relation to the Halal Center. I just want you to know that we come from the same root,” he said before a handful of Indonesian journalists over the weekend.

The center is widely recognized as the world’s first research institution specializing in halal products.

He is a Thai national but is ethnically Javanese.  His father, Irfan Dahlan, the fourth child of Ahmad Dahlan, was born in Kauman, Yogyakarta.

Irfan went to Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan, to study Islam in the 1920s. After completing his studies in 1933, he could not return to Indonesia as the Indian Ocean had become a battlefield during World War II.

Irfan settled in Thailand and married the daughter of an imam at the Jawa Mosque in Bangkok.

“My mother is also Javanese but was born in Thailand. My great grandfather built that mosque,” Winai explained.

The Jawa Mosque is located in the heart of a Javanese community in Sathorn district, Bangkok. The community was founded by a group of Javanese craftsmen who helped to build the palaces of King Chulalongkorn in the 1890s.

With the strong Islamic background, it is not surprising that Winai devotes his skills and abilities for the sake of Muslim societies, particularly those in Thailand.

“In Muslim-majority countries, you have no doubt about the halal status of products,” he said.

“But in non-Muslim countries, we don’t feel safe because we’re afraid that the food is contaminated haram [forbidden] ingredients,” said Winai, who obtained his doctorate’s degree in applied medical biology from Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

There are approximately 7.5 million Thai Muslims in the country, representing about 12 percent of the total 62.5 million Thai population.

The presence of the halal center dates back to 1995, when he initiated a halal science laboratory at the faculty of allied health science at the university.

With the support of ASEAN, the laboratory was expanded into a Halal Science Training Center for ASEAN country members in 1998.

In 2006, the center was assigned to be a secretary to the Halal Products and Services Working Group of a subregional cooperation: the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT).

Soon after receiving financial aid from the Thailand government, Winai established two branches of the halal center in Pattani, one of the Thailand’s southernmost provinces, and Chiang Mai, a culturally-significant city in northern Thailand.

Winai said the center employed 20 scientists and 20 staff, with 90 percent of them Muslim.

“Ulema councils, including the MUI [Indonesian Ulema Council], prefer to have Muslim scientists overseeing the certification of halal products, because they have to be witnesses for the ulemas [who issue halal certificates] in kiamat [the judgment day],” Winai explained.

The center detects pork, or other non-halal mixtures, in food products through several methods, including DNA sampling and a flame ionization detector (FID) technique.

The center’s scientists have also combined their technologies to create a more efficient halal certification process. They have developed specialized information and communications technology on the production of halal products.

The system enables ulemas to supervise the product — from the raw materials and manufacturing process until delivery to stores — with one click from their computer tablets.

The center is currently developing a barcode system for halal products.

“By scanning the barcode through hand phones, people will get full information about the product, including the name of the ulema that issues the product’s halal certificate,” he said.

In 18 years of service, the Halal Center has received numerous awards, including the Best Innovations 2012 from the World Halal Research Summit in Malaysia and the 2009 Recognition Award from the Islamic Da’wah Council of the Philippines.

For his role as the center’s founding director, Winai received The King’s Service Medal, The Dusdee Mala in 2009 for his achievements in science.

The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre listed Winai as one of “the world’s 500 most influential Muslims” for three consecutive years.

Winai and his research team are expected to play more significant role in the cooperation between Thailand and Indonesia — the latter being the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country — in the coming years.

Last year, Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Sinawatra included the halal food industry as a top priority in their cooperation agenda.

Winai is a man of forward vision. He expected that his advanced halal science would not only benefit Muslims in the region, but also the world community.

“What we desire is halal tayyib food. Halal means lawful for mankind to be consumed or utilized, while tayyib refers to good, safe, healthy and hygienic products. This means that halal is not only for Muslims. Halal is good for all,” Winai said.

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