Jakarta - The Head of the Halal Product Guarantee Agency (BPJPH), Ahmad Haikal Hasan, initiated the establishment of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Halal Forum. The establishment of this cross-country halal forum is important to strengthen the global halal ecosystem while strengthening Indonesia's role in the global halal economy.
“Yesterday on April 22, 2025 we held a roundtable where we have initiated a forum called the ASEAN Halal Forum,” said Babe Haikal, the nickname of Ahmad Haikal Hasan, in Jakarta, Saturday (3/5/2025).
"Currently halal is the competitive advantage in the global halal ecosystem. Therefore, we, the Halal Agency, initiated to immediately form the ASEAN Australia New Zealand HALAL FORUM," continued Babe Haikal.
The magnitude of the influence of halal standards represented through halal certification, he continued, is inseparable from the fact that halal is universal. According to him, halal has metamorphosed into a lifestyle. Halal is traceability, trustability, and transparency. Halal can be traced, can be traced and is very reliable, and transparent, from upstream to downstream.
"Halal has become a lifestyle and modern civilization. Even some people in various countries consider halal as a symbol of health, a symbol of clean," he continued.
Furthermore, Babe Haikal emphasized that the ASEAN Halal Forum will also raise the important issue of halal universality as a product standard, that halal belongs to everyone. Halal as a quality concept does not belong to Muslims alone. It is proven that currently the countries that export the most halal products are countries such as China, America, Brazil and so on.
"There is a halal transaction which at the current exchange rate is around 21,000 trillion rupiah, this is a number that is not playing games. And that is recorded as a halal transaction. Even though many are halal but have not been recorded, this means that it will be more. And in Indonesia we only get 637 trillion rupiah." continued Babe Haikal.
"So a number (potential) that is actually very large but not anything because it is only 3-4 percent. This means that if we stretch just a little to strive for halal order, halal Indonesia will be realized for the world community." he added.
“In ASEAN, the population is almost 1 billion and a quarter of them are in Indonesia, so Indonesia initiated this meeting so that we can increasingly stand on our own feet.” he concluded.