After the Najib Addendum saga, another potential headache might be heading towards the unity government, and this time it comes in the form of two of its most combative members, Nga Kor Ming of Dap and Akmal Saleh of Umno, looking like they are heading towards a clash, in the KK Mart “halal ham” storm.
For the uninitiated, the KK Mart “Halal ham” storm started because of a sandwich.
Last week, KK Mart woke up to the news that after being heavily hammered by the “Allah” socks fiasco last year, another wrecking ball is coming in its way, when the ham and cheese sandwiches that were sold in its outlets within the University Malaya campus grounds in Petaling Jaya were found to have the halal logo, although it was made out of ham.
Originally, the controversy was focused on the term “ham”, which is generally associated with pork, but the matter has now evolved to be a case where the said sandwich was carrying the KK Mart and the halal logo, although the sandwich is supplied to KK Mart by a third party, and that third party did not possess a halal certificate.
Although KK Mart has explained that the cold cut “ham” mentioned in the sandwich is actually made out of chicken, which is halal certified , Jakim has announced that even if the cold cut ham itself is made out of halal chicken, the entire sandwich and the third party outlet that made the sandwich has not been given the halal clearance.
Although KK Mart has responded by closing down its two outlets in UM, suspending all its business with the third party supplier, filing a police report and issuing a letter of demand against the third party supplier through its legal team, David Gurupatham & Koay (Advocates & Solicitors), the issue is likely not over, considering how it has caught the attention of Akmal Saleh, the UMNO Youth chief, who arguably rose to prominence after he spearheaded the boycott KK Mart campaign over the Allah Socks issue last year, and Nga Kor Ming, the equally combative Dap leader, who is firing back against those who are taking KK Mart to task.
Akmal, who also chairs the Melaka Committee for Rural Development, Agriculture, and Food Security, has questioned how the shop obtained the halal logo displayed on the product's packaging.
"Last Friday, UM students lodged a police report regarding the shop selling a sandwich labelled ham and cheese.
' Ham contains pork, and the sandwich was sold at UM, where the majority of the community is Malay.
"We can accept it if it's sold for non-Malays, such as Chinese or Indian customers, but why is there a halal logo on the packaging?" Akmal said in a Tik Tok post on Jan 12.
Today, DAP vice-chairman Nga Kor Ming has waded into the controversy by taking a jab at certain quarters whom he accused of making a fuss over the matter, saying ham simply referred to meat that had been cured.
“We have turkey ham and chicken ham, which are perfect for consumption. The same goes to root beer, which is made from sassafras root which is non-alcoholic and good to drink.
“To make an issue out of it simply shows who is the real idiot,” he said in a posting on X.
Although Nga did not name anyone in particular, it is doubtful as to whether Akmal will not take umbrage to what Nga had posted.
Quarrels tend to get out of hand when the parties in the quarrel are 1) entangled with each other 2) has a history of quarrel 3) are arguing over a petty matter for psychological gains related to face or pride rather than for practical gains involving money or assets and 4) can both claim to be in the right.
Umno and Dap, which Akmal and Nga belong to respectively, are entangled with each other for the last 2 years in lieu of their respective position in the unity government.
Umno and Dap, as well as Akmal and Dap leaders, and Akmal and KK Mart, have a history of quarrelling with each other.
You might say that the issue is not a petty matter, because it has religious significance, but in other way of looking at it, the controversy involves but a sandwich, and the reason for the controversy has more to do with misunderstanding over terms, logos and concepts, than it has do because of any real transgression, be it via action or intention.
The issue however, has the potential of exploding into becoming a much bigger issue, because it has now involved the face and pride of prominent politicians.
When big egos clash over petty issues, an issue can get out of hand, because all the quarrelling parties will expect the other party to be the first to take a step back. If either Nga or Akmal are the first to say they are sorry for getting carried away, the other party will likely be very magnanimous and reciprocate the gesture, but the problem is that neither one might be inclined to be the first to say they are sorry, but be very heavily predisposed to require that the other party be the first to make a move towards reconciliation.
The fact that both parties can also claim that they are right is also going to be a problem. Akmal is right in claiming that ham is usually associated with pork. Nga is also right in his claim that ham does not necessarily mean pork, but can mean other meats like chicken as well. That the sandwich does not possess a halal certificate also does not necessarily mean it is not halal in a practical sense. That both sides can take refuge in the fact that they are right while accusing the other side of being wrong, has also the potential of transforming this spark of a problem into a firestorm.
Coming so soon after the Najib Addendum saga, the Halal Ham controversy is also likely going to be particularly combustible, as emotions are likely still high between the all major politicians in the country, on both sides of the divide.
Anyway, when I look at how easily this matter of the halal ham could have been resolved in a different times, but despite that, no answer to the question is forthcoming, despite the unnaturally high amount of energy, resources, time and attention that is being utilised to answer the question, it is an observation by Carl Von Clausewitz, the German military strategist that comes to mind.
“Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.”
If anyone has any doubt that the politics in Malaysia is in a warlike state, the great difficulty in answering the very simple and humble question in regards to the Najib addendum or the Halal ham controversy, should remove all doubt.
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