THIS May, to mark the start of Ramadan, Sharp Indonesia, an offshoot of a Japanese electronics giant, launched the world’s first halal fridge. Not a fridge for halal food; an appliance that is itself supposedly sharia-compliant (though the Koran does not mention fridges). At a press conference the firm’s executives donned batik shirts and huddled around it, giving a cheery thumbs-up.
The stunt was primarily a marketing exercise, but soon Indonesian shoppers will be able to snap up many more improbable, halal-certified goods. For that they can thank a vaguely worded law which comes into effect in October next year. It stipulates that most products must be halal-certified, without precisely defining which products it means. Lawyers argue that it could apply to inedible goods, such as fridges, and even to services like consulting.
That is by no means Indonesia’s only woolly law....Continue reading
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