Indonesia has great potential to become the world’s halal centre, but why is it still ranked eighth? Through the digitalization of services and cross-sector collaboration, BPJPH is optimistic that the target of 7 million products with BPJPH halal certificates that are processed quickly and easily will be achieved, aiming to make Indonesia the world’s leading country in the halal industry. LPH LPPOM consistently encourages BPJPH to accelerate the implementation of halal mandatory certification by upholding the integrity of the certification process.
Indonesia’s commitment to becoming the world’s halal centre is no longer just a dream. However, to make it happen, more than just potential is needed: there must be order, collaboration, and integrity. This was conveyed by Ahmad Haikal Hasan, the Head of the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH), during the Indonesia International Halal Festival (IIHF) seminar at the Jakarta International Convention Centre.
He also emphasized the importance of synergy between the government, business actors, and halal inspection institutions to encourage the acceleration and ease of halal certification, particularly in light of the target of seven million halal-certified products by the end of 2025.
In his presentation, Ahmad Haikal Hasan presented quite surprising data. Indonesia, known as the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, ranks eighth in the global halal ecosystem ranking. Indonesia contributes the majority of the 20 largest halal food and beverage companies globally.
“Indonesia has the most halal food and beverage products. Contrary to the data released by DinarStandard. There are 20 of the largest companies in the world, 15 of which are from Indonesia,” he explained.
However, according to Haikal Hasan, Indonesia’s low ranking is not due to a lack of potential, but rather to disorder in the implementation of halal certification. Of the approximately 60 million MSME actors in Indonesia, roughly 50 percent are engaged in the culinary sector. Unfortunately, of the 30 million culinary MSMEs, only around 2.4 million have halal certificates (SH).
“Therefore, BPJPH collaborates with several stakeholders to jointly call for halal. This is just talking about culinary. There are still 40 million more in the cosmetics, medicine, consumer goods, and other sectors,” added Haikal.
“If all have SH, then I guarantee that Indonesia is number one in the world for halal.” To achieve the target of seven million halal products, BPJPH has set a target of issuing 10 thousand halal certificates per day until the end of the year.
Responding to the challenge of accelerating certification, LPPOM, as a Halal Inspection Body (LPH), is not sitting idly by. The President Director of LPH LPPOM, Muti Arintawati, stated that digitalization is a crucial step in supporting a transparent, efficient, and accountable halal certification process.
“We strongly support BPJPH, that digitalization is one of the most important and main things to support the ongoing halal certification process,” She said. Through a digital system, all stages, from business actor registration to inspection by LPH and the determination of fatwas by the MUI Fatwa Commission, can be monitored in real-time.
“With a digital platform, all parties will be able to know, where is the process, if there is a problem, where is the problem, so that there is no blaming each other,” explained Muti.
Furthermore, Muti also touched on the potential of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to track the origin of raw materials, ensure halalness from upstream to downstream, and simplify the inspection process.
“With the current development of AI, of course we can search for information to find out where this material comes from, what it is made of. That will greatly simplify the process that was expected to be simpler, easier, less complicated,” she said.
However, technology and regulation alone are not enough. The integrity of halal stakeholders is the primary foundation. Closing his statement, Muti emphasized that all parties involved in the halal ecosystem are required to uphold honesty and moral responsibility.
“Every halal stakeholder must uphold integrity. Because halal is integrity, halal is a mandate. If we cannot maintain that, then halal will be tarnished, so that it will no longer have any value,” she said.
Indonesia’s potential to become the center of the world’s halal industry is enormous, but it will only be realized if all elements – from regulators and business actors to consumers – work together in harmony. With the acceleration of halal certification through digitalization, the encouragement of mandatory halal policies from BPJPH, and the spirit of integrity maintained by institutions such as LPPOM, the hope of “Indonesia is number one in the world for halal” is no longer just a slogan, but a shared mission that is increasingly real before our eyes.
To achieve this, LPH LPPOM invites all business actors to immediately obtain halal certification. The discussion space is wide open through the Customer Care service at Call Center 14056 or WhatsApp 0811-1148-696. Business actors can also explore the flow and process of halal certification by taking the free Introduction to Halal Certification (PSH) class, which is held routinely every 2nd and 4th week of each month https://halalmui.org/pengenalan-sertifikasi-halal/.
LPH LPPOM also invites consumers to be smart in choosing products by quickly and easily checking the list of certified halal products, which have been inspected by LPH LPPOM, on the website www.halalmui.org or the Halal MUI application, available for download on the Play Store. For comprehensive information, please visit the BPJPH website at https://bpjph.halal.go.id/. (YN)
