How a smart alec puts Berry’s Cake House in a quandary with his bigotry halal interpretation
AFTER sparking a massive furore which threatens a nationwide boycott among its loyal customers, Berry’s Cake House Sdn Bhd has apologised over its misinterpretation of JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) halal certification over piping the Merry Christmas greeting on its cakes.
The apology once and for all over-ruled the viralled internal memo dated Dec 14 by the bakery’s operations manager Daniel Teoh who instructed outlet staff not to entertain any customer request for Christmas greetings on cakes. Instead, customers will have an option of a “Seasons Greetings” cake topper.
“The incident occurred due to our misinterpretation of our halal certification requirements. Following the clarification from the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), there are no restrictions on halal certificate holders writing celebratory festive greetings on cakes for customers to take home,” clarified Berry’s in a notice to customers.
“We deeply regret any inconvenience caused to all our valued customers. We are most happy to take orders with celebratory festive greetings.”
Infuriated netizens including Muhammad Nasri Bin Azhar took to Facebook (FB) to express fascination as to how operations manager Teoh could have misunderstood JAKIM’s halal ruling while also questioned JAKIM’s ruling.
“How could Daniel Teoh be Berry’s operations manager when JAKIM says something yet he understands something else?” the netizen penned on his FB page. “What JAKIM meant is that the cake sold by halal premises can accept customer reservations to pipe “Merry Christmas” but cake bearing such greeting cannot be displayed at the store.”
JAKIM kata lain, Berry’s faham lain. Macam mana lah Daniel Teoh ni boleh jadi pengurus operasi Berry’s. Maksud JAKIM ialah kek di premis HALAL boleh menerima tempahan pelanggan untuk tulis “Merry Christmas” di atas kek namun kek yang bertulisan “Merry Christmas” tidak boleh dipamer dalam kedai seperti di kek-kek yang disusun di dalam cermin. Tapi satu je aku pelik dengan JAKIM ni. Bila masa Allah keluarkan hukum yang menyebabkan kek bertukar dari halal menjadi haram hanya kerana ada tulisan “Merry Christmas” di atasnya untuk ia dipamerkan?
1) Berry’s memandai-mandai tentang peraturan JAKIM.
2) JAKIM memandai-mandai tentang peraturan Allah.
Added Muhammad Nasri: “At the same time, I also feel weird about JAKIM. When did God decree the law that the halal status of a cake can become non-halal with display of the “Merry Christmas” greeting? Could it be either that Berry’s attempts to outsmart JAKIM’s ruling or JAKIM tries to outsmart God’s ruling?”
Now that the matter has been clarified, it seems that netizens are training their guns at Teoh and his employer with netizen Pete Joe Rock urging “non-Muslims to look for other bakeries if you need pastries or cakes. Boycott these racist and fanatic outlets.”
Berry's owner, convert Daniel Teoh & wife. To non - muslims if you need pastries or cakes please look for other bakeries. Boycott these racist and fanatic outlets.
Whatever the case is, Berry’s owner is well aware that the storm Teoh has cooked up with his internal memo is a costly one for the sales value of manufactured bread, cakes and other bakery products in Malaysia was worth approximately RM12.48 bil in 2022 or a slight increase compared to the previous year, according to data provider Statista. – Dec 18, 2023
Berry's was just being Kiasu.
ReplyDeleteThe incidental response of a small enterprise towards a blurred & f*cked zombieic demand.
ReplyDeleteKiasu is the only way of live & let live!
Ain't u, know-nothing Mfer when u r dealing with these zombieoc/Ketuann dickhead s?
It's not so much who is at fault, but rather that an inanimate object on a cake (in this case a seasonal greeting) can even be an issue.
ReplyDelete