Lawmakers of Indonesia have approved a request that the House of Representatives include mandatory halal food labelling in a draft-law. House religious affairs commission chairman Hazrul Azwar said that legislators agreed with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) that halal certification should be obligatory rather than voluntary.
“I agree that all food and drug producers must obtain halal certificates and put them on their products because this is what Islamic Shari’ah obliges for Muslims,” he said. At a hearing earlier this month with the House Commission, the MUI demanded protection on the issue of halal product assurance so as to compel producers to certify their products. MUI fatwa committee head Ma’ruf Amien told the parliamentary commission that the majority of Indonesians were Muslims, thus they needed protection and assurance that what they consumed was permitted under Islamic law. He also asked the House to allow the MUI to retain its authority in administering and issuing halal certificates.