Bakery says no Christmas greetings on cakes, in line with Jakim order

 

A Jakim statement says premises with halal certificates may not put cakes with Christmas greetings on public display. (Freepik pic)

PETALING JAYA: A bakery chain accused of being racist for not allowing Christmas greetings on its cakes has said it is merely abiding by a rule set by Jakim, the Islamic development department.

Berry’s Cake House operations manager Daniel Teoh said the bakery had no choice but to adhere to the ruling or risk losing its halal certificate.

“But we are now being accused as racist, when we are not. We are merely following orders,” he told FMT after being asked about an internal memo that had gone viral.

“We are not simply doing this (prohibiting Christmas greetings). What would happen if they (Jakim) suddenly audited us? They would revoke our halal certificate,” he said.

The memo, from Teoh to bakery staff, told employees to refuse any requests to decorate cakes with Merry Christmas or Xmas greetings. Instead, customers were to be given an option of placing a Season’s Greetings cake topper.

An image of the internal memo that was shown to a customer who had confronted an employee.

According to a Jakim statement issued in December 2020, premises with halal certification are allowed to place festive greetings on products if the goods was not meant to be put on display.

Products with the halal logo which are meant for display also may not bear such greetings, the statement said.

Teoh said his memo was meant for internal use, but a staff member who was confronted by a customer had shown his letter to them in defence.

He said Berry’s had followed Jakim’s rules strictly, and also referred to Jakim before releasing any product for sale.

In 2020, then religious affairs minister Zulkifli Mohamad said Christmas greetings would not void any halal certification by Jakim. He said it was only wrong for cake shops to put on public display items bearing Christmas greetings.

However, any request to have greetings piped on cakes ordered by customers was all right, he had said. - FMT