The Halal economy is a very important one. Let me cite a personal experience so that you might get some sense of it. I was having my breakfast in a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) branch. It was very early and there was no one else except for this old lady who kept staring at KFC’s wall menu. She was pacing up and down and seemed to be very bothered about something. At first, I thought that she wanted to eat but maybe forgot to bring out her purse, or maybe her family told her to get specific dishes but she cannot recall what to get.
A server at the counter kept looking at her and finally decided to ask the old lady in Bahasa Melayu, “Hi, Can I help you, Mdm?”
The old lady replied hesitantly, “Yes, I want to order the chicken drumstick dish but I am worried that it is not Halal.”
“Oh, don’t worry. All the chickens that are slaughtered for KFC’s cooking, are Halal-certified. Look at the Halal certificate that we’ve hung on the wall. Take a look at it.” said the server.
The old lady looked suspiciously at the Halal certificate and indicated that she doesn’t trust certificates.
The server spent the next full 15 minutes explaining the entire process of what happened at the chicken slaughter-house, who’s at the slaughter-house, how the slaughter took place, who’s in charge of the certification, basically the entire process. Finally, the old lady was still unconvinced and she walked away without buying anything.
She couldn’t be convinced. Even with the certificate that was designed to look very legal and serious. She just doesn’t buy into it. In short, she could be concerned about traceability issues.
To the business-readers, I am sure you’ve picked up a lot from this sharing. Even though it is just a sample size of one, it is indicative of some of the Muslims’ buying culture. Even if you were to spend a lot of time to explain about the origins of your product, some of them might just walk away if you risk their faith. Truth be told, what’s one meal worth when majority of the Muslims have been fasting regularly during the yearly Ramadan, some for many decades? Also, there’s other food alternatives too.
Anyway, Indonesia will try to further strengthen its Sharia economy by adopting a four-pronged approach. First, the administration will try to facilitate growth of the digital economy to support the Islamic economic and financial development, and to develop an integrated information system to manage Halal products’ traceability. Eligible companies will be encouraged to register their company details with the integrated information system.
Second, Halal supply chain will be strengthened by the establishment of a halal marketplace. Education on this matter will be provided to small and medium enterprises, integrated financing facilities and other related stakeholders along the value chain.
Third, the government might facilitate the merger of PT Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM), PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Syariah Tbk. (BRIS) and PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI Syariah) into Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). This would hopefully strengthen Indonesia’s Islamic financial industry so that it should be able to provide adequate financing in accordance with Sharia principles.
Last but not the least, the government will encourage and facilitate the establishment of Halal Industrial Parks, Halal certifications and attract more international partners to develop/ support these developments. They will need a lot of buy-ins from the local provincial governments and the private sector too.
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