Ban on Christmas greetings lifted

PETALING JAYA: Bakeries with halal certificates can now write and display any festive greeting on their cakes or confectionery, says the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim).

This latest directive overturns an earlier one in 2020 where food outlets with a halal certificate could only write festive greetings of non-Muslim faiths on their food items but not publicly display them.

A check with a bakery that sparked the controversy after refusing customers’ requests to write Christmas greetings, said that it could now do so and display those foods after Jakim’s latest directive.

Meanwhile, Sarawak premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has weighed in on the controversy, describing it as “stupid” while adding that writing festive messages on cakes is not “haram” or forbidden in Islam.

Yesterday, Jakim said that there is no restriction for businesses that have halal certification from writing any festive greetings on cakes or similar foods.

“Jakim will review and re-evaluate any related matters in the Malaysian Halal Certification Procedure Manual (MPPHM),” said the corporate communications section of Jakim’s Halal Management Division in a statement.

“With this explanation, Jakim’s previous statement in 2020 is no longer applicable.”

In December 2020, former Jakim deputy director-general (operations) Datuk Abdul Aziz Jusoh had reportedly said that halal-certified shops are allowed to put festive greetings on products that are not on public display. The bakery had reportedly told its customers that it could not write “Merry Christmas” or “Xmas” on their cakes due to a directive from Jakim.

The bakery’s owners said it was merely following orders from the department and it feared that it would lose its halal certificate if it did not comply.

The bakery subsequently issued a circular to all its employees to decline customer requests to write Christmas greetings on any of its products.

Instead, the bakery would only provide a “Season’s Greetings” cake topper.

After Jakim’s latest statement yesterday, calls were made to two of the bakery’s outlets on the pretext of ordering a cake with the words “Merry Christmas”.

At one branch, the bakery’s employees said they now could write festive greetings on their cakes and they no longer had to follow the old Jakim directive.

“You can choose any cake you like, most of our customers prefer chocolate-based cakes. We can write anything related to Christmas.

“Yes, we can put on display too now,” said the bakery’s employee.

However, another outlet said they could only write Merry Christmas if a customer requested it, but they could not put them on cakes for public display.

“Yes, we can write ‘Merry Christmas’ on cakes now or ‘Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year’ or ‘Merry Xmas’,” the employee told The Star.

“We can write anything for orders but not for display. We have not been told yet about the (rules for) displays, so we are not displaying these cakes in the shop for now.”

In SELANGAU, Sarawak, Abang Johari said that it was ridiculous for festive greetings on cakes to become an issue.

“Today I read in the news that baking a cake with Merry Christmas on it is a problem. Itu bodoh punya (that is stupid).

“What’s wrong with decorating a cake with Merry Christmas on it?

“This is not haram,” he said when opening a new riverfront and district office building here.

Abang Johari urged Sarawakians not to be influenced by something that happens in the peninsula.

“This is why we left Barisan Nasional and formed Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), so we can make our own decisions,” he added.