DAP acknowledges clarification over cake greetings

KUCHING: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak hopes the question of shops or bakeries disallowing staff to write ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Xmas’ on cakes will not arise again.

In expressing such hopes its chairman Chong Chieng Jen said this was because Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar had clarified that there are no restrictions on halal certificate holders writing celebratory festive greetings on cakes after the matter had gone viral on social media recently.

“As we are about to celebrate Christmas, we have seen on social media that shops or bakery shops with halal certification cannot sell cakes that have the ‘Merry Christmas’ greetings.

“And this arises from a circular issued by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) back in 2020. During that time, the government was the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

“Fortunately, today, the country is not led by a government headed by PN. Therefore, yesterday, the Minister overseeing Islamic affairs issued a statement clarifying that such a directive doesn’t need to be followed,” he said.

He said this when attending the Kampung Semaba Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) Christmas Get Together Party at Kampung Semeba Hall on Sunday (Dec 17).

Thus, with the issue being clarified, Chong who is Stampin MP hopes the people won’t have any misgiving when they celebrate Christmas.

“After all, Malaysia is a multicultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic country, and we will make sure that it remains so for as long as it will be,” he said.

On Dec 16,  Dr Mohd was quoted as saying there is no barring from writing festival greetings on cakes sold by halal certificate holders for customers.

“I have instructed the halal department under JAKIM to issue an immediate statement which explains the matter clearly, especially to halal certificate holders. This will be done as soon as possible.

“I have also asked them to produce a video on the issue to ensure everyone understands,” he said.

The clarification came following an internal memo from a cake house purportedly telling staff not to write Merry Christmas or Xmas on their cakes, even if requested by customers.

In the circular dated Dec 14, 2023 and signed by the bakery’s operations manager, the justification given for the decision was to comply and meet the halal certification requirements by JAKIM.

The bakery’s owner has yet to respond to queries about the circular.

Later, at the same event, Chong also a presented a cheque for RM50,000 to Magdalene Lilawati, headmistress of SK Sacred Heart Semaba to upgrade facilities at the school.