Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Of course, now we have the ham-gate
scandal and the reality that Jakim data has demonstrated that over 70
percent of halal certification is for non-bumiputera business, which I
take to mean non-Muslim business, considering the loaded political
definition of the term.
The controversial ham and cheese sandwich
Indeed in an article published by Sinar Daily in 2023, there were efforts being made to court Muslim businesses to obtain halal certification.
This point was also made by the Halal Development Corporation (HDC) Berhad which disclosed
that non-bumiputera are the majority of halal certification holders:
āNon-bumiputera companies have traditionally dominated the food
manufacturing sector, but this is not an issue because they adhere to
the standards set by Jakim,ā said chairperson Khairul Azwan Harun.
Hence
unlike what the PAS Youth chief said during Seputeh MP Teresa Kokās
halal controversy - āThe ones who should have been worried are the
Muslims, who are concerned about ingesting non-halal food. Non-Muslims
donāt have to worry about anything, and in fact, they will feel better
because halal food is cleaner,ā - this is not exactly the case.
The
biggest stakeholders when it comes to halal certification are
non-Muslim or non-bumiputera businesses and indeed the bureaucracy is
actively courting Muslim businesses to get halal certification because
to them (Muslims) the certification is not a big issue.
After all,
Kok, while responding to public comments by the Madani religious czar
during the mandatory halal certification debacle, pointed out
the extra burden to Muslim-owned restaurants - āAlthough many
restaurants do not serve pork or alcohol, they do not apply for halal
certification. This includes thousands of small Malay restaurant
operators.ā
Of course, she ends up being investigated by the state
while Zaid Ibrahim who told Jakim to concentrate on the persecution of
the sodomy of young boys, in religious schools, is somehow immune from
this most pressing of issues - āSodomy is now an epidemic. Young boys
are traumatised and abused all over the country. Yet, our religious
affairs minister is only interested in halal certificates,ā said the
former law minister on X.
Teresa Kok
Territorial
Of
course, halal certification does not mean that brands are not open to
attack by the far religious right and rabble-rousers. Remember when
there was a threat to ZUS Coffee because of its logo - āResponding to a question from Malaysiakini
at the event in Sunway Pyramid Mall in Selangor, ZUS Coffee vice
president Stephy Foong said the company is ādeeply saddenedā by the
boycott call, especially because all its outlets are certified halal by
Jakim.ā
When former law minister Zaid, in his defence of Kok
against Bersatuās attacks, claimed that she did not have a deep
understanding of the issue, defined that deep understanding - āThe deep
understanding I can think of is that Jakim will make a lot of money.
Already, itās a billion ringgit business, and if the purpose is to make
easy money, say so.ā
And
like most big businesses, Jakim is protective of its territory. In
2016, the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) and
the Malaysia Institute of International Islamic Cooperation (Ikiam)
proposed a āhalal certificationā that differentiated between halal
products produced by Muslims and non-Muslims.
Why, you ask? Well,
according to Risda at the time - āThe need for another halal logo is to
distinguish products that were produced by Muslims against that of
non-Muslims besides helping Risda smallholding entrepreneurs and Muslim
entrepreneurs make forays into the halal markets locally and abroad.ā
Of course, Jakim had to issue
a reminder - āIf Ikiam and Risda proceed with using a new halal logo
for Muslim-made products (without Jakimās approval), it is an offence
under the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 (Halal certification and
identification) Order,ā it said.
āIs it good for us?ā
Keep
in mind that just because something is certified halal does not mean it
is good for us, in the sense that it has nutritional value.
A
point made by Syed Farid al-Attas, professor of sociology at the
National University of Singapore during the mandatory halal controversy
last year - āFor example, whether a banana leaf restaurant has a
certificate or not, it is still halal. On the other hand, many
restaurants are halal-certified, but we can prove that the food is not
good.
āIn a narrow sense, it is halal because it does not contain pork and alcohol, but in a broader sense, is it good for us?ā
He
also reinforced a point already made by Zaid - āThis has nothing to do
with religion. This is the bureaucratisation of religion. I think it has
more to do with the fact that halal certification is an industry.ā
So halal is big business and yes, non-Muslim companies benefit, or at least they believe they benefit from halal certification.
Now,
of course, demanding transparency and accountability by the major
stakeholders would be construed by religious agitators as going at the
3Rs, but wouldnāt it be something if Jakim actually was protective of
its major stakeholders instead of using them as punching bags whenever
rabble-rousers threaten the economic ecosystem which Jakim is attempting
to nurture?
However, this is not only about business but also
politics, and itās convenient for fascist politics to use the instrument
of the state as a cudgel.
