Unnecessary polemic over festive greetings

THE main message for Christmas is very simple – joy to the world and let there be peace on earth. That’s all.

It’s probably only in Malaysia that each time we celebrate this happy festival that we have an unnecessary and unproductive polemic over a simple occasion.

The “Merry Christmas" greeting is just an expression to be merry or to be joyful. It is used to convey good cheer and desire for the other person to be joyful and have a wonderful holiday season.

No one is going to end up getting converted to Christianity with that.

Jesus isn’t even born on Dec 25 and the Bible is silent on his date of his birth or the time. How Dec 25 was chosen has continued to be debated.

Don’t believe that 80s hit song by Boney M played in malls and radio that Jesus was born on Christmas Day. Most people have treated Christmas as a year-end celebration with no religious connotations except Christians.

The trouble in Malaysia begins when some people, especially low-ranking officials, begin to impose their values and interpretations of rules on others.

Well, they may be down in the hierarchy of the various government departments, but they do have plenty of clout. They can make life miserable for those who dare to defy them, especially small businessmen.

That’s why they are called ‘’Little Napoleons” and they exist everywhere, throwing their weight around.

It had to take Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar to quickly issue a statement to explain that there were no restrictions on halal certificate holders writing celebratory festive greetings on cakes for customers to take home.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) said he had asked the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) to clarify the issue immediately.

‘’No barring of 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," he said.

This followed an internal memo from a cake house purportedly telling staff not to write Merry Christmas or X’mas on their cakes, even on request from customers.

Instead, employees were told they could provide a ‘’Season’s Greetings" cake topper.

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

On Nov 1, Jakim addressed a similar issue due to another article, saying that the department “stresses that festive greetings on products are allowed if they were not made with the purpose of being displayed in the premise that has the halal certification or on products marked with the halal logo."

“This is because there are no provisions about the celebration of any festivals including Islamic celebrations stated in the Malaysian Halal Certification Procedure Manual (Domestic) 2020,’’ the department reportedly said at that time.

This is probably where the said baker must have panicked and went on to issue an internal memo, which has gone viral.

It takes plenty of time and funds to seek the halal certification from Jakim as Muslim is the largest group in Malaysia.

Well, the minister has ordered Jakim to issue a statement and we hope that Jakim will give a good reassurance, and put an end to the issue.

This is where common sense is missing among our bureaucrats. Insisting that festive greeting – in this case Merry Christmas – to be banned from display is surely going overboard.

But surely a baker in a predominant Muslim neighbourhood would realise that it does not make business sense for him to display ‘’Merry Xmas’’ or “Happy Deepavali’’ greetings on his cakes but a halal-certified baker in non-Muslim majority areas would want to do that as a promotion.

There is certainly infringing on the rights of non-Muslims and has put businesses in a tight spot. It’s a ransom, to put it bluntly.

Even some of our Rulers, who are the custodians of Islam, come out annually to wish Malaysians who celebrate Christmas.

Would Jakim or officials then come out to order our King or Sultans to stop posting these greetings or tell them to stay away from ethnic festivals?

If a baker uses any form of liquor in preparing the cake, then certainly it is an infringement of the halal certification. But that's a different story.

In any case, with due respect, I strongly believe that my Muslim family members, friends and colleagues have a strong faith.

No “Merry Christmas’’ greeting on a cake or attending a Christmas party is going to sway them from their deep conviction of Islam.

The latest purported ruling by Jakim certainly takes the cake.

We hope all will end well. After all, this is the season to be merry and - one of forgiveness too.