Asia
New Brandname To Promote Country As Premium Producer Of Halal Products
By BERNAMA
Apr 26, 2007, 23:55

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (Bernama) -- "Halal Malaysia," a new brandname to market the country as a producer of world-class halal products, will be promoted to take the already internationally recognised Malaysian "Halal" logo to a higher level.

"We want to promote something that is called "Halal Malaysia." This is basically to promote the country," said Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Jamil Bidin.

HDC, tasked with the lead role to implement all programmes and initiatives to develop the country's halal industry, wants to promote "Halal Malaysia" as a world brand, he said at Bernama's Roundtable Discussion on the Halal Industry today.

"So, when you go around the world and see Halal it must automatically reflect Malaysia. That is a part of our efforts to promote the country as the leader in this particular industry," he said.

The other panelists were chairman of the World Halal Forum 2007 Khairy Jamaluddin, CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd chief executive officer Badlisyah Abdul Ghani and Nestle Malaysia Halal Committee chairman Othman Md. Yusof.

The roundtable was moderated by Bernama editor-in-chief Yong Soo Heong and assisted by Bernama Economic Service executive editor Salbiah Said and editor Mikhail Raj Abdullah.

Jamil said promoting "Halal Malaysia" will take some time as promoting it as a premium brand in the global market requires Malaysian manufacturers to produce halal products of the highest quality.

As far as the non-Muslim market is concerned, he said, being syariah-compliant is not an issue but more important are stringent product safety and cleanliness.

"If we want to promote halal as a premium brand then our products have to be at that level.

He added that leveraging on the halal certification, currently undertaken by Jakim (Islamic Development Department), should be seriously considered.

"Because, to be the leader in the industry, you don't have to be the biggest producer. We have the expertise and we can provide certification for industries throughout the world."

The fact that Malaysia is the only country in the world where certification is being done by a government body, gives an edge as its halal certification earns a lot of respect from many countries around the world.

If Malaysia can tap the potential of world demand for halal gelatin and ties this with its halal certification, he said this is an "area where we can help promote our branding exercise in a faster manner."

Jamil disclosed that given the huge market for halal gelatin, Middle Eastern investors have shown keen interest to partner with Malaysian counterparts to set up production plants to produce it.

"As you know, halal gelatin is widely used around the world, it is used in food, in cosmetics and in medicine, but the supply of gelatin is not big."

Taking Malaysia's halal brand further, Khairy said educating Muslim consumers on the purity of Malaysian palm oil, which is certified halal, will raise the integrity of Malaysia's halal certification much more effectively than other alternatives.

"If you look at what the soya oil or anti-palm oil lobby did to us in the 80s and 90s in the United States, I think we should do the same thing," he said.

"I think muslim countries should say that all these are not really halal, they don't really come from soya bean, they have been mixed with animal oil and things like that."

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