Halal bakeries can pen Christmas greetings on cakes, says Malaysia’s religious affairs minister
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An internal memo from a cake house purportedly told staff not to write Merry Christmas or X’mas on their cakes.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
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PETALING JAYA - There are no restrictions on halal-certified bakeries writing celebratory festive greetings on cakes for customers, said Malaysia’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Religious Affairs Na’im Mokhtar.
Dr Na’im said he has asked the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) to clarify the issue immediately.
“There is no barring of writing festival greetings on cakes sold by halal certificate holders for customers,” he said.
“I have instructed the halal department under Jakim to issue an immediate statement which explains the matter clearly, especially to halal certificate holders. This will be done as soon as possible.
“I have also asked them to produce a video on the issue to ensure everyone understands.”
His clarification followed the online circulation of an internal memo from a cake house purportedly telling staff not to write Merry Christmas or Xmas on their cakes, even when requested by customers.
Instead, employees were told they could provide a Season’s Greetings cake topper as an alternative.
In the circular dated Dec 14, 2023, and signed by the bakery’s operations manager, the reasoning behind the decision was to comply with and meet halal certification requirements set by Jakim.
The bakery’s operations manager Daniel Teoh said the business was caught in a difficult position of having to adhere to the ruling or risk losing its halal certificate.
“But we are now being accused (of being) racist, when we are not. We are merely following orders,” he told Malaysian news site FMT.
“We are not simply doing this (prohibiting Christmas greetings). What would happen if they (Jakim) suddenly audit us? They would revoke our halal certificate.”
Mr Teoh said his memo was meant for internal circulation, but an employee who was confronted by a customer had shown his letter in defence.
On Nov 1, Jakim addressed a similar issue related to the use of the Merry Christmas greeting on cakes. Then, Jakim said Christmas greetings would be allowed if they were not intended to be openly displayed in premises with the halal certification or on products marked with the halal logo.
“This is because there are no provisions about the celebration of any festivals, including Islamic celebrations, stated in the Malaysian Halal Certification Procedure Manual.” THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
