“I HOPE KK Mart will sue Akmal for defamation. Make it a couple of million ringgit so that he will lose his ADUN (state assemblyman) status if unable to pay,” penned Madani government critic Sharifuddin Abdul Latif in a Facebook post.
“Alternatively, UMNO may probably sedekah the funds (do charity) to pay, thus, benefitting KK Mart. Just like how PAS did for DAP, right?”
This came about as the UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh is up in arms again with 24-hour convenience store chain KK Super Mart by claiming that the ham sold at the KK Mart outlet in the Universiti Malaya (UM) campus in Kuala Lumpur “contains pork elements”.
“Although the sandwich is probably targeted at Chinese, Indians or the non-Malays, there are many Malay Muslims and most importantly is the availability of the halal logo,” fumed the Merlimau state assemblyman.
“I wish to ask KK Mart since when the ham & cheese sandwich is halal and how did the product obtain its halal logo.
“The anger from last year’s socks issue has yet to subside and now doubts abound about the halal accreditation status of its ham & cheese sandwich sold at UM … I want the police to investigate the agencies involved and please take action … this is not the first but second time we as Muslims feel insulted.”
In principle, Akmal has based his action on a police report lodged by student activist group PEMBINA Universiti Malaya which had on Jan 10 also made a complaint to the Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) against a pack of “Ham & Cheese Sandwich” sold at the UM KK Mart branch.
Following this, the university management has taken swift action to immediately ordered the closure of two KK Mart outlets in its campus.
“This report was made because this sandwich pack bears the JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) halal logo but the logo is questionable and invalid because the word ham refers to the thigh part of pork,” justified PEMBINA UM in its official statement.
“According to the Malaysian Halal Certification Procedure Manual (MPPHM), applications that are not eligible for halal certification are products that use names or names that are synonymous with non-halal products or misleading terms. This includes ham as stated on the sandwich pack.” – Jan 13, 2025
