Independent watchdog protecting Indonesian consumers from non-halal products

Consumers in Indonesia are not well-protected against products that are not halal due to weak government oversight. In 2013, a watchdog non-governmental organization (NGO) called Indonesia Halal Watch (IHW) stepped in to fill the gap.   

IHW was set up by lawyer Ikhsan Abdullah who began self-funding the project. The organization grew, and today, it works in tandem with the national halal certification body, the Indonesian Ulema Council's Assessment Institute for Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics (LPPOM MUI).   

“We have auditors and experts to analyze products and determine whether they are truly halal or not,” IHW founder and executive director Abdullah told Salaam Gateway.

IHW does frequent tests of products in stores and restaurants and also receives reports on non-halal products from the public. It does not have its own laboratory but the organization has been granted permission to use one owned by LPPOM MUI. 

RECENT CASES

Recently, IHW found that a company’s halal claims for its hijabs were false. The watchdog filed a police report against the company and the case is still being investigated by the police.

In another case, a cereal product from China that claimed to be halal-certified was found to be actually not.

According to Abdullah, most companies that his organization summons to court for falsely claiming products are halal have followed up on IHW's findings by obtaining halal certification legally from LPPOM MUI.

Since the organization’s inception, IHW has investigated more than 100 companies in Indonesia claiming to be halal-certified. Of IHW’s total investigations, only one ended up actually having halal status from MUI, Abdullah said.   

NEED FOR STRICTER ENFORCEMENT

The need for stricter enforcement will only grow in Indonesia, as a wider range of products from overseas enters the country after the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) came into effect in early 2016.

“With the AEC, Indonesia has become a huge consumer [of imported products from ASEAN countries],” Abdullah said. “Even before it started, less than 30 percent of products circulating in the market were halal, our survey in some cities found.”

IHW found several other products from Asian countries claiming to be halal that had never received certification from the LPPOM.

“They have a halal label from their own countries, but they don’t bother to convert it into halal certificates in Indonesia,” said Abdullah.

He added that producers from other countries should be halal-certified by the LPPOM. The MUI has cooperated with other countries, including China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, to synchronize their halal certification requirements.

“It’s likely that exporters don’t understand the law in Indonesia regarding halal certification because halal certification is still on a voluntary basis until 2018,” said Abdullah. “But once it becomes mandatory, there should be a barrier to block non-halal products from overseas. We will work together with the authorities in Indonesian ports to block non-halal products.”

Furthermore, he said, Indonesian consumers are at risk of consuming non-halal food in restaurants across the country. While some establishments are aware of halal certification requirements, they will sometimes go back to their old ways of using non-halal ingredients once they receive a halal certification.

“There are also restaurants that don’t even bother to receive halal certification so that we can’t be certain whether their food is truly halal or not. We have to remember that even though the raw material of food is halal, there’s still the cooking process using additional ingredients,” he said. “One example is tart cake, for which basic ingredients are all halal but when it includes rum and shortening from pork, then it becomes haram.”

According to IHW, Indonesian consumers are left in doubt whenever they want to consume something.

“While Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country in the world, there is zero protection for consumers, whether from the business sector itself or from the government. It’s not like Europe, where producers have great awareness [of the importance of providing halal products] to save their own businesses,” Abdullah said.

“We will educate and spread information [on the importance of halal certification],” he added. “If there are indications that producers do not want to be educated, then we will force them through our advocate division and cooperate with law enforcement to raise awareness.”

© SalaamGateway.com 2016