Mariam Mokhtar
Published: Sep 20, 2024 1:01 PM
COMMENT | When the government wants to bury bad news, it will do its best to distract us from the real issues. This is the reason why the halal certification issue became headline-grabbing news.
The ruse worked because few people failed to connect the dots and failed to express curiosity as to why the nation was suddenly gripped with halal fever.
The halal certification public spat was a battle from which there could be no real winners.
It was a non-issue because it aimed to distract us from the real news of successive administrations, especially the Welfare Department, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, the Health Ministry and the Religious Affairs Department, which over the years, have abrogated their responsibilities, and failed in their duty of care towards our children.
The authorities knew that the Global Ikhwan Service and Business Holding (GISBH) scandal would be reported, as police investigations had been ongoing for six months. They had unearthed a serial child abuse scandal of epic proportions. It could not be easily buried.
Published: Sep 20, 2024 1:01 PM
COMMENT | When the government wants to bury bad news, it will do its best to distract us from the real issues. This is the reason why the halal certification issue became headline-grabbing news.
The ruse worked because few people failed to connect the dots and failed to express curiosity as to why the nation was suddenly gripped with halal fever.
The halal certification public spat was a battle from which there could be no real winners.
It was a non-issue because it aimed to distract us from the real news of successive administrations, especially the Welfare Department, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, the Health Ministry and the Religious Affairs Department, which over the years, have abrogated their responsibilities, and failed in their duty of care towards our children.
The authorities knew that the Global Ikhwan Service and Business Holding (GISBH) scandal would be reported, as police investigations had been ongoing for six months. They had unearthed a serial child abuse scandal of epic proportions. It could not be easily buried.
Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin
Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin already raised the alarm with the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), the body which is tasked to administer Islamic affairs in Malaysia.
Asri was incandescent and getting impatient with Jakim, especially as the Perlis fatwa council had expressed their concern and anger about Jakim's failure to act and investigate the faith deviation involving GISBH.
One reason amongst several that Asri posited for Jakim's reticence is found at minute 1.30 in the Malaysiakini video clip. He said, "...kerana ada campur tangan pihak yang tinggi terutama didalam penguat-kuasaan dan keselamatan"… (because of interference from higher up, in particular in the enforcement of power and security).
This is extremely worrying and raises more questions than answers. Did the failure of Jakim to investigate, come from the Home Ministry or the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)?
What is highly embarrassing and damaging that must be kept from public viewing? Was it linked to the high-powered GISBH delegation visit to the PMO, in April last year?
These are questions that the rakyat would like answered. With the police investigations nearing completion, raids imminent and Asri keenly waiting on the sidelines, someone in the government probably created the halal certification plan, to create a distraction.
The timeline
The timeline is roughly as follows.
On Sept 2, a police report about GISBH was made. Did those who lodged the report know of the ongoing intelligence gathering by the Royal Malaysia Police? Did alarm bells ring in Putrajaya?
Out of the blue, on Sept 4, Jakim said Johnny’s Restaurants, Black Canyon, Dolly Dim Sum, Mr Dakgalbi, and Bungkus Kaw Kaw had no Malaysian Halal Verification Certificate. These restaurants are popular with Muslim patrons.
Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin already raised the alarm with the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), the body which is tasked to administer Islamic affairs in Malaysia.
Asri was incandescent and getting impatient with Jakim, especially as the Perlis fatwa council had expressed their concern and anger about Jakim's failure to act and investigate the faith deviation involving GISBH.
One reason amongst several that Asri posited for Jakim's reticence is found at minute 1.30 in the Malaysiakini video clip. He said, "...kerana ada campur tangan pihak yang tinggi terutama didalam penguat-kuasaan dan keselamatan"… (because of interference from higher up, in particular in the enforcement of power and security).
This is extremely worrying and raises more questions than answers. Did the failure of Jakim to investigate, come from the Home Ministry or the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)?
What is highly embarrassing and damaging that must be kept from public viewing? Was it linked to the high-powered GISBH delegation visit to the PMO, in April last year?
These are questions that the rakyat would like answered. With the police investigations nearing completion, raids imminent and Asri keenly waiting on the sidelines, someone in the government probably created the halal certification plan, to create a distraction.
The timeline
The timeline is roughly as follows.
On Sept 2, a police report about GISBH was made. Did those who lodged the report know of the ongoing intelligence gathering by the Royal Malaysia Police? Did alarm bells ring in Putrajaya?
Out of the blue, on Sept 4, Jakim said Johnny’s Restaurants, Black Canyon, Dolly Dim Sum, Mr Dakgalbi, and Bungkus Kaw Kaw had no Malaysian Halal Verification Certificate. These restaurants are popular with Muslim patrons.
On Sept 6, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na’im Mokhtar, proposed to make halal certification mandatory for restaurants and food companies that do not serve pork or alcohol. Those in government predicted correctly, the reaction of the non-Malays.
Later that same day, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok disagreed with the proposal and said that companies would be burdened with unnecessary costs, and that halal certification should be voluntary.
Kok was merely expressing the views of her constituents and those of non-Malay business owners about halal certification. If truth be told, many rational-minded Muslims were glad she spoke-up.
Within a few days, the halal certification furore built into a crescendo, with Bersatu Youth chief, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal demanding an apology from Kok and a retraction of her statement about Naim's proposal.
The Umno-Baru Youth, with its motor-mouth leader, Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, could not resist a dig at DAP. He criticised Kok for interfering in religious matters.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim waded into the controversy by reprimanding Kok and her statement about halal certification, which he claimed, sparked an irrelevant controversy.
The public spat continued, and the halal certification furore was in full swing and at its zenith, just about everyone from former politicians, lawyers, MCMC, other political parties and even the leader of the Indian restaurant association, had plenty to add.
Then, on Sept 11, the media reports about the police raid on Global Ikhwan-run homes with sodomy and child sexual abuse, child labour and slave labour, shocked the nation and created international headlines.
However, the whole nation was still gripped by the halal issue, with Muslims demanding their halal rights, and non-Malays objecting to forced halal certification.
Damaging Madani image
Despite most Malaysians pausing momentarily to express their disgust at GISBH, they continued for another one week in halal and non-halal mode.
The sodomy cases in GISBH did not receive the full impact it should have had. The scrutiny about Jakim's incompetence and failure of enforcement were not properly addressed.
For decades, similar sodomy scandals in tahfiz schools, religious schools, and by individual ustaz were never really satisfactorily resolved. The perpetrators escaped scot-free, or with a rap on the knuckles. The victims languished. All these scandals escaped our scrutiny as it did with GISBH, last week.
Then, like a flash flood appearing out of nowhere, the halal controversy ended just as suddenly as it had begun. On Sept 18, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi revealed the cabinet's decision that non-Muslim restaurants need not be halal certified.
What we were not aware of at that time, was that 19 people, including the GISBH CEO Nasiruddin Mohd Ali and his two wives, had been arrested in a dawn raid the same morning Zahid made his announcement.
GISBH CEO Nasiruddin Mohd Ali
The following day, the 19 were taken to face the magistrate at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Court Complex. Later that same day, Zahid declared that the public spat between Akmal and Kok was over.
Both the distraction and scandal management had gone according to plan.
The GISBH scandal and Jakim's incompetence, are potentially damaging for the Madani administration, especially with billions of ringgits pumped into Jakim and nothing to show for it. Jakim claims it does not investigate, yet it selectively investigates and interferes in issues, like the socks bearing the word “Allah” debacle.
The shame is that the full resources of the government and the rakyat's attention were focused on the halal non-issue. The government avoided our intense scrutiny when we should have been pressing for answers about the unresolved decades-old child abuse racket and Jakim's apathy.
Our children are once again betrayed. Where is the political will to punish the perpetrators and not just the scapegoats?
The following day, the 19 were taken to face the magistrate at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Court Complex. Later that same day, Zahid declared that the public spat between Akmal and Kok was over.
Both the distraction and scandal management had gone according to plan.
The GISBH scandal and Jakim's incompetence, are potentially damaging for the Madani administration, especially with billions of ringgits pumped into Jakim and nothing to show for it. Jakim claims it does not investigate, yet it selectively investigates and interferes in issues, like the socks bearing the word “Allah” debacle.
The shame is that the full resources of the government and the rakyat's attention were focused on the halal non-issue. The government avoided our intense scrutiny when we should have been pressing for answers about the unresolved decades-old child abuse racket and Jakim's apathy.
Our children are once again betrayed. Where is the political will to punish the perpetrators and not just the scapegoats?
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, X.
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kt comments:
As I mentioned previously, most Islamic authorities seem damn sh*t-scared of criticizing-commenting on the sodomy-abuses scandals in GISBH. Why??? 😡😡😡
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