AHMAD SAYUTI BIN YAHYA (2012398817) Report on: SEMINAR ON HALAL: Malaysian Halal certification to the global stage;

Challenges & Opportunities in Tourism & Hospitality sector 30th Novermber 2013 (Saturday) Dewan Muktamar 1, Masjid Al- Watiqu Billah, Tunku Mizan Zainal Abidin, UiTM Shah Alam. SLOT 1: MAKANAN DAN MINUMAN: DARI SUDUT PANDANGAN AGAMA KEPADA PENJENAMAAN PEMASARAN.

The first slot of

SEMINAR ON HALAL: Malaysian Halal certification to t he global stage;

Challenges & Opportunities in Tourism & Hospitality sector was delivered by speaker from Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), Mr. Yusaini Hisham Bin Mohamed, a Special Project Manager, who was replacing Dr. Abd. Malik B. Musharat as the keynote presenter. The topic of the presentation was Makanan dan minuman: dari sudut pandangan Agama kepada Penjenamaan pemasaran (Food and beverages; From religion perspectives to the market brand where the title glimpse a brief idea about Halal certification from religion perspective and business perspective, particularly in food and beverages area. The presentation was started where the presenter briefly introduced the Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), an identity formed in 2006 which solely focus on giving consultation and training to the company which applying Halal certification from JAKIM. HDC is the backbone of Halal industry in Malaysia; helping the development of Halalrelated businesses in Malaysia through various plans where the plan hopefully will drove the sectors growth in making Malaysia an international hub for halal products and services. Halal industry are showing a promising return since there are 1.8 million of Muslims worldwide and this number is increasing gradually. Halal food for muslim is not an option, but an obligition to be met in interacting with what is permissible and which is not, and those are largely related to food and beverage selections. Halal Toyyiban concept which focusing on providing the highest quality of product through the attributes of wholesomeness, healthy, safe & nutrious is not only meets the Muslims specifications, but also demanded by non-muslim customer. According the speaker, Halal concept should not be viewed in small scope as what have been done by many consumer where Halal is only evaluates from end product, but the scope should be evaluated in more holistic perspectives from the usage of ingredients, the animal feed, logistic procedures, the way business is conducted and etc. The rise on demand of Halal certified product had booming worldwide where it is estimated about USD2.1 Trillion to USD 6 Trillion per-year of income can be generated from the industry, and this numbers are expected to be increased continuously.

Throughout the keynote delivery, the presenter have shared the current process and developement of Halal industry in Malaysia done by HDC. For example, the recent development of Halal Hub and Halal Park in Pulau Indah, Selangor and Sungai Serkam in Melaka, is said able to attract many investor and at the same time promote the Halal industry in Malaysia to the global. Halal Park is one of the infrastructures facilitating the growth of the Malaysian halal industry which is build by communities of Halal-oriented businesses developed on common property where they are provided infrastructure and service support. HDC is helping to make Halal parks become a success in Malaysia by attracting foreign companies, particularly multi-national corporations, to invest in the Halal parks located across the country. Halal industry nowadays is not only restricted in food and beverages selections, but the bounderies also widen to many range of product such as insurance, pharmaceutical, drugs and vaccines, islamic finances, tourism, and many other type of products. The number of product ranges with halal certifications also increase time by time since the 30 years developement of Malaysian Halal certification at various stages. However, the presenter highlighted several issues regarding this matter. Through the key figures from the presented slides, the audience were acknowledged that much of the certified halal company are owned by Non Muslim while the Muslim is merely become a consumer. Saudi Arabia championed the list with highest purchasing power of Muslim population, followed by Turkey, Iran and Malaysia, however, these countries are largely become a consumer but not a producer. This would become a concern for every muslims since Halal concept is their right to be protected, but by mainly leave the issues to be handled by non-muslim may exposed the consumer to many scam and manipulation due to the etchical misconduct and ignorant from the entity who fail to see halal as part of important concept in life of a muslim. The allocated 1 hour seems does not enough to highlight all the topics prepared by the presenter. However, it is believed that the participants have gained much information from the keynote delivery since the presenter is knowledgeable enough about the recent trends and issues in Halal industry and always come out with fact and figures in explaining things. However, the presenter does not really explain about the halal concept as depicted in the given title, but merely went through about the Halal industry developement in Malaysia, the relationship between this industry and economy, and what constitute the Halal concept, where all of the shared information were based on business perspecetives. Toward the end of the keynote delivery, the presenter briefly reviewed about the concept of Halal tourism before ending his speech by inviting all the audience to join the Halal Executive Program, a training program organised by HDC which aim to produce a professional with high knowledge level of understanding on Halal issues and develop a pool of resources within the Halal industry. This is in line to support Malaysia's vision of becoming a preferred global hub for Halal products and services in the future.

SLOT 2: PENSIJILAN HALAL DARI KACA MATA PENGEMBARA MUSLIM; SUATU PERSPEKTIF.

The second slot of the seminar was delivered by Tuan Haji Mohd Nordin B. Haji Zainuddin, Head of Compliance Shariah Department at Islamic Manufacturing Practice (IMP) Community. IMP Community is one of the Non- Government Organization (NGO) which focusing to empowered the Halal Valued product by promoting a new manufaturing standard which is much similar to Good Manufaturing Practice, but with the addition of Syariah-based episteme in every details of the standard requirement. The speaker is one of the very experienced figure in detailing the Halal issues where he prominantly invited to many halal related- event worldwide. The topics delivered by the speaker was entitled : Pensijilan Halal dari kaca mata pengembara muslim; suatu perspektif (Halal certification from the eyes of Muslim traveller: A perspective).

The speaker kept up a very steady pace of delivery from start to the end of the slot, where he brought up many issues and trend in Halal industry where some of facts were really an eye-opener. From the given topics, the presenter has explained very well on the halal concept, which currently become a clash of principal between a muslim , and the actual halal manifestation in the market. As depicted from the given title, the presenter highlighted several conflicts experienced by the Muslim nowadays where the source of industrial food consumed by muslim are largely controlled by large corporation which mainly are the non- Muslim, from raw materials to the end product. This situation is such a hurtful fact since this marked that, it is a non-muslim that decide which food should be eaten and which are not- a contradiction to the Halal concept where the Halal specification are guided by Quran and Hadith, not by logical method that utilized by many people nowadays.

Other than that, the speaker also highlighted the struggles experienced by the Muslim manufacturer, where some of them are still confused about the truth of halal concept. The atittude of ignorance from the muslim themselves also add to the problem in serving the halalan toyyiban product in the market. As for example, in the Hospitality industry, much of the manager are still unclear about what is Syariah based complianced hotel and what is Muslim- friendly hotel where much of the hotel owner claim themselves as syariah based complianced hotel which they are not. Other that that, many muslim producers also focusing themselves on producing halal product, while at the same time ignoring the toyyiban features. By neglecting the toyyiban features, the product are only permissable to be consumed, but the safeness of the product could be put into doubt. This situation can be seen in todays phenomena, where much of the consumed food can lead to many diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and etc. This is due to the fact that many food producer are solely work out for the profits, without realizing that they have the obligation to serve the muslim

community by providing a good product which is high in quality and safe to be used even in the long run.

As with previous slot, the allocation of 1 hour also doesnt enough to explain all the topics in a very detail way. However, the presenter able to attract all the audience to follow his slot from the beginning to the end. The presenter also did not got dragged away from the given topics, where all of the shared information were reflected the given title very well. Toward the end of his slot, the speaker briefly explained about the concept of halalan toyyiban in hospitality industry which are related to the main title of the seminar before thanks the audience for paying a full attention and giving full coorperation throughout the seminar.

SLOT 3: KEPERLUAN PENSIJILAN HALAL DALAM INDUSTRI PELANCONGAN & HOSPITALITI: KONSEP ASAS DAN KEFAHAMAN

The third slot of the seminar was delivered by Ustaz Mohd Soberi Bin Awang, an advisor from Institut Pengurusan dan Latihan Halal (IFLAH) a body which focusing themselves on giving consultation, training, advice, and organizer of any halal- related program, particularly for Kolej UNITI students which taking the Diploma in Halal Industry Management. IFLAH is a new entity in empowering the Halal issues management where it was established in early 2013 and aim to become a backbone to support Malaysians vision in becoming a preferred global hub for Halal products and services in the future. The given topics delivered by the speaker was Keperluan Pensijilan Halal dalam Industri Pelancongan & Hospitaliti: Konsep asas dan kefahaman (The needs for Halal certification in Hospitality and Tourism industry: Basic concept and understandings). For the entire slot, the speaker did a through explanation on the concept of Halal particularly in Hospitality and Tourism industry, which is reflected the given title. At the beginning of the slot, the speaker underlined the reason why we need to follow the Halal requirement where it is based on the Maqasid Syariah or the ultimate goal or purpose in islamic faith. It is made clear that the purpose of halal order is to preserve the wellness of human being by protecting their faith (deen), life (nafs), intellectual (aql), lineage (nasb), and property (maal). These five necessities are the basic need for human existence; whoever neglects it, their life will turn upside down, full of chaos and lead into total disruption therefore, they should protect and safeguard them in order to maintain their lives as good as possible. The speaker then underlined the concept of Tourism and Hospitality which based on islamic practices. The tourism and hospitality concept is not an alienated concept where it is also recorded in Quran, where Allah encourage the ummah to travel around the world particularly for dakwah purposes. The term ziarah, rehlah, siyahah and safar are all the positive term which closely related to concept of tourism. Other than that, the practice of Jamak and Qasar or the flexibility in doing prayers also mark the encouragement to do travelling. Through the brief explanation, it can be understood that Islam is not probihited its believer to do travel, however, it must be in line with the Syariah law. Other than that, there were also some of the Islamic practices that are closely related to the concept of hospitality. Islam is known for the practice of adab or good manner which must be applied to all mankind. For example, in dealing with the guest, Islam has underlined several code of conduct known as Husnu al-Dhiafah and Tadhyiif where a muslim should accept any guest with open arm and open heart, and it is an obligation keep the guest entertained and feel accepted, no matter the guest is

muslim or not, rich or poor. This is directly related to the modern concept of hospitality where the guest must be treated equally and must be ensured about their safety. The speaker also explained that Islam already have a long history in managing and organizing the tourism and hospitily sector. One of the most noticable practice is during the pilgrimage season where all of the Muslim around the world will come to the holy land to complete their religious obligation. During pilgrimage season, there will be a well- organized group that will take care of all the muslim affair so that they can complete their ritual in peaceful manner. The term sadanah al bayt or Kaabah management, Majlis as-siyaqah or water management, and Majlis al-rifadah or food management are all related to the job assigned to these group during this season, which revealed that the hospitality management is already established in Islam history a long time ago. Toward the end of the slot, the speaker asserted that the Tourism and Hospitality industry can be categorized as one of Ibadah or good deeds that should be performed by a muslim, as long as the practice is in line with syariah. Hospitality is one of the concept that are permitted and sometimes can be an aobligation in Islam through the long practice of prophet Muhammad S.A.W. The Halal issues is not only restricted to food and bevarages, but also widen to any matter and affair, including the tourism and hospitality practices. The halal certification which applied in the rightful manner can protect all the consumer and producer from any syubhat or uncertainty toward the product. The speaker ended the slot by emphasizing the utilization of Halal logo as one of the tools that ensured the quality of the product, its safeness and clealiness, and at the same time could boost up the business productivity.