KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — The country’s halal industry players are advised not to be too open about sharing knowledge, strategies and marketing tactics with other countries to maintain Malaysia as the world’s leading halal product certification and production leader, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Ahmad Zahid who is also the chairman of the Halal Industry Development Council emphasised that excessive information sharing may cause other countries to imitate Malaysia’s approach, thereby affecting the country’s position as a leader in halal products since 1974.

"For example, Malaysia used to be the number one producer and exporter of rubber and palm commodities in the world, including the leader in Islamic banking. But we are forced to accept when we fall behind compared to the neighbouring countries because we share too much knowledge and strategies,” he said when officiating the 2024 Halal Ecosystem Transformation Workshop at a hotel in the federal capital this morning.

Ahmad Zahid said the attitude of being too ‘kind’ to share knowledge, technology and knowledge needs to be controlled for the sake of the country.

"If we are too kind to share everything... in the end we are left behind,” he said.

The Halal Ecosystem Transformation Workshop 2024 is a programme jointly organised by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), Halal Development Corporation (HDC), Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) and the Bumiputera Economic Congress secretariat, was attended by approximately 100 participants including the Minister at Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar and MARA chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

In his speech, Ahmad Zahid said coordination between various agencies, departments or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) needs to be intensified to ensure that Malaysia remains a leader, not only in halal certification, but also in the production of halal products, including Islamic banking services and others.

"Our intentions and goals are good, but how can the coordination be done so that our stake holders are not confused. We must avoid a situation where all parties have the same goal, but act in different ways,” he said.

He also emphasised the importance of Malaysia maintaining its position in the halal industry since national certification is widely recognised by Muslim and non-Muslim countries around the world.

In fact, he said halal industry players should take advantage of the exciting market-based opportunities for the global halal economy which is expected to reach US$5 trillion (RM21 trillion) by 2030 from US$3 trillion (RM12.6 trillion) this year.

"The market is big, but how much is our contribution from that amount? Our export of halal products is only RM53.7 billion. Although in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) we contribute 8.1 per cent to the export of halal products, the reality is that it is still very, very small’,” he said.

Ahmad Zahid also said that although Malaysia has been involved in the halal industry for almost 50 years, the country still does not have a strong halal policy.

Thus, he emphasised the need to establish a halal research and innovation centre, even though the Department of Islamic Development Department Malaysia (JAKIM) has started efforts in that field.

"As an institution, leaders come and go because the directors of the halal certification department also have to go on compulsory retirement even though there is more work to be done. So we should take advantage of their expertise after they retire.

Ahmad Zahid suggested that the research centre which will be established can invite back retired experts, in addition to new experts and conduct some innovation on halal products and services.

He also informed that starting next year, the month of September will be used as the annual Halal Product Month. — Bernama