JAKIM not doing enough to stop corruption in halal certification

Banning imports of meat from one abattoir is not going to stop endemic corruption in the industry

Munir Hussein, Sirajuddin Suhaimee, and Mohamed Adil Rahman

The Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM) recent announcement that it has banned the importation of meat from the Thomas Foods International abattoir in Lobethal, South Australia is not enough to stop endemic corruption within the industry. The foreign certifying body (FCB), Supreme Islamic Council of Halal Meat in Australia Inc (SICHMA) has at this point of time only being given a show cause letter, where it clearly appears this organization was the primary culprit in the scandal.

Singapore and Brunei are likely to make similar announcements to Malaysia later this week. However, this doesn’t tackle the main issue within the halal meat industry, corruption by rogue officials.

Zarizal Ahmad, who is listed on the official MACC website as the Assistant Commissioner and head of the Investigation School, claimed that corruption in JAKIM is not new. He has received a number of complaints personally as an officer, he said, but added that the MACC has held off making any investigations on the halal certification process. JAKIM is well wired into Malaysia’s Islamic establishment, making it so far immune to prosecution.

Asia Sentinel’s investigations have continued to bring up three main characters involved in corruption. An abattoir supervisor in a statutory declaration supplied to Asia Sentinel alleged that Mohamed Adil Rahman had used his influence to remove Australia Halal Food Services (AHFS) from accreditation as suppliers to Jakim and Majilis Ugama Islam Singapora (MUIS), which plays a similar role in Singapore to Jakim in Malaysia. Mohamad Adil Rahman, he said, also worked to have the Islamic Co-ordinating Council of Victoria (ICCV) removed from Jakim accreditation as. “ICCV had disobeyed him. Three weeks later looking full of pride he told me ‘it’s’ done. I removed ICCV from the Malaysia and Singapore list.’ The following week, a notice from Malaysia and thereafter Singapore, came confirming Mohamed Adil Rahman’s statement.”

Not surprisingly, Mohamad Adil Rahman was behind the recent meat scandal at TFI Lobethal. Witnesses over the last three years have told Asia Sentinel about lots of occasions where halal protocols have been breached. For example, situations in abattoirs known as “downers” or emergency kills which render the animal dead and considered haram are regularly mislabeled as halal. This included animals whose skulls were cracked open during stunning, which should also have been labelled as non-halal. In addition, the contract slaughtermen’s’ wages were withheld to pay “donations” and taxes, holiday pay, hardship living allowances, and superannuation by Mohamed Adil Rahman. Slaughtermen were denied medical leave and not allowed to make medical claims.

One supervisor provided Asia Sentinel with a statutory declaration that said: “I have unknowingly been in a system that involved sham employment contracts, tax fraud, and black economy activity that was planned, committed, and masterminded by Mohamed Adil Rahman using the Supreme Islamic Council of Halal Meat Australia Inc. (Sichma) as a certifier, which I refused to be part of anymore.”

This situation within the halal industry in Australia pointed directly to rogue officiers within JAKIM and Singapore’s Majlis Ugama Singapura (MUIS). On Asia Sentinel’s revelations, MUIS has held two inquiries into allegations of corruption made public by Asia Sentinel. The final report has not been made public by either MUIS or the Singapore government. The only visible development is a press release by MUIS exonerating themselves from any corrupt practices and wrongdoing. The MUIS officer at the center of allegations was quietly promoted to executive director of a wholly-owned MUIS subsidiary, MMW Shared Services Pte Ltd. None of the allegations that Asia Sentinel published about domestic market corruption have been investigated.

Last year Sirajuddin Suhaimee was quietly moved out of his halal portfolio into a research portfolio, according to JAKIM’s current organization chart, and is now deputy director general of the organization.

Sirajudding Suhaimee publicly appears to still be very active within the halal portfolio. Every individual seeking to investigate Sirajuddin, has been removed from power. Former JAKIM director-general Wan Mohamed Sheikh Abdul Aziz, was given immediate early retirement when he proposed an investigation. Hasnol Zam Ahmad, then a director within the prime minister’s department, was also prevented from doing so. Anonymous sources in Putra Jaya told Asia Sentinel that Sirajuddin enjoys patronage from a member of a royal family, who he assisted in entering the halal certification business in China some years back.

These corruption allegations were never investigated by either the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) or JAKIM. In fact, officials from both JAKIM and MUIS openly appear to support Sichma as their preferred certification body in Australia, over others, which have been delisted. Sirajuddin Suhaimee, a senior Jakim official, supported Sichma over the allegations after he met privately with Sichma officials, saying he intended to “make SICHMA the best CB (certifying body) in Australia (see video link).”

Corrupt bureaucrats and industry collaborators have compromised halal integrity for more than 270 million Muslim consumers across Asia and around the world who are eating meat that has been falsely certified as having been butchered in compliance with religious standards. Authorities in at least three countries are seemingly too timid to take on powerful religious authorities, and their superiors in supreme religious councils have also looked the other way.

This complacency also appears to have spread to Australia where the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water, and Environment’s investigation didn’t solve the food safety issues at the TFI Lobethal plant. These lapses need to be scrutinized very closely, given the links between top JAKIM and DAWE officials reported by Asia Sentinel previously.

Until authorities have the willingness to stamp out this widespread industry corruption, the industry will continue to be tainted.

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