Authorities Urged To Stop Pork "Bakso" Uproar

News Focus - AUTHORITIES URGED TO STOP PORK "BAKSO" UPROAR By Andi Abdussalam Jakarta, Dec 20 (ANTARA) - Indonesia`s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has urged the government and related parties to stop the circulation of pork-tainted "bakso" (meatball) soup before the issue creates a serious uproar and has a wider impact. "We are concerned about the circulation of pork-contaminated bakso. The government and other concerned parties need to take immediate steps to prevent an escalation of the situation and to neutralize its negative impact on the public," Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, said here on Wednesday. He pointed out that if the issue is not resolved immediately, it will create widespread public unrest. The people will not consume bakso, and it will harm the interests of thousands of small traders who earn a living on the popular side dish. Made of beef mixed with tapioca flour, bakso is a popular side dish in Indonesia, which is predominantly populated by Muslims. However, Muslims are not permitted to consume pork, according to Islamic law. "It will harm the interests of small traders who have to earn a living for their families by selling bakso," noted Din Syamsuddin. Din Syamsuddin, who chairs the 28-million-member Muslim Muhammadiyah organization, made the statement following another finding last week of pork-contaminated bakso being sold to the public in West Jakarta. The finding in West Jakarta followed previous cases where pork-contaminated bakso was also found in Cipete, South Jakarta, and in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta. Head of West Jakarta Animal Husbandry and Fishery Service Eviati commented on Friday that her office had found pork-tainted bakso in samples taken from a number of places. "We took 34 samples and conducted a laboratory test. We found three bakso balls, which contained pork," she said. The animal husbandry service official stated that her office had taken the samples from six traditional markets in West Jakarta. "The samples came from the Pasar Kopro, Pasar Kemiri, Pasar Duta Mas, Pasar Puri, and Pasar Grogol markets and from a bakso home industry in the Kapuk area in Cengkareng," Eviati remarked. The meatballs containing pork were taken from three traders. "The traders in the Pasar Kopro, Grogol, and Puri markets sold the meatball to the public in their kiosks without packing it," Eviati added. She said it is difficult to recognize the difference between pork bakso and beef bakso. "They have almost the same color. Physically, it is difficult to differentiate. If the meatball is fully pork, it usually has a whitish colour," she pointed out. The large price margin could have been one reason why producers mixed the beef with pork. "Pork bakso is usually sold at a cheaper price than the beef. It is about Rp300 to 1,500 each, depending on its size. The price of beef bakso is usually Rp1,000 each, at minimum," she stated. In South Jakarta, samples of bakso containing pork were found in the Cipete area. It was believed that the distribution of minced pork to traders took place in three sub-districts in South Jakarta`s areas of Kebayoran Baru, Kebayoran Lama, and Cilandak. "We took 46 samples in 10 districts in South Jakarta and found that bakso in three districts were mixed with minced pork," Agung Priambodo, head of the husbandry and fishery service of South Jakarta, said. He noted that the pork-tainted bakso meatballs were found in five locations in the three sub-districts. "Laboratory tests of samples from other sub-districts showed negative results," asserted Agung. He suspected that minced-pork dealers in these areas had capitalized on bakso traders to sell their products. Earlier, on Wednesday (Dec. 12), security officers from the Jakarta Metropolitan Police and South Jakarta Husbandry and Fishery Service officials raided a kiosk that was used to mince pork in the Cipete area. Police confiscated 50 kilograms of pork and 15 kilograms of minced pork that had been kept in cold storage. Witnesses questioned by the police said most of the consumers of the pork-mincing home industry were bakso traders. The business had been running for about two years. It was suspected that the pork-mincing factory owner had sold the minced pork at Rp40,000 per kilogram, or about 50 percent lower than the price of beef. Police investigators later named a suspect�Eka Prayitno (22), owner of the pork-mincing factory. "The suspect has distributed to bakso traders a mixture of minced pork and chicken," Jakarta Metropolitan Police Spokesman Senior Commissioner Rikwanto said. He pointed out that the raid on Eka`s business began when the Jakarta police officers and officials from the South Jakarta Husbandry Service conducted a food-order operation on Wednesday, Dec. 12, when officers found the meat-mincing factory, which processed pork and chicken meat as ingredients for the production of bakso. In connection with the finding, Muhammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin called on all bakso producers to take speedy action in testing samples of their products in cooperation with the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) and other related institutions. This move is to ensure that the meat distributed to bakso traders is free from pork-tainted material. "In this way, this issue, which could create unrest and may harm the interests of small traders and other people, can be handled," noted Din Syamsuddin. The Indonesian Consumers Institute Foundation (YLKI) has also called on police to take firm action against the perpetrators of the pork-tainted bakso fiasco. This issue has created an uproar and has led to unrest among the people and bakso traders. YLKI chairman Tulus Abadi said police and the trade services were responsible for handling the crime committed by the perpetrators of the pork-tainted bakso distribution that had cheated consumers. In the meantime, the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) assured the people on Wednesday that products with �halal� (allowed by Islamic law) labels, which had not yet expired, were free from pork contamination. "We have conducted verification tests and found that products, which have been certified with halal labels, are free from pork," Ma`ruf Amin, the MUI chairman, told a press conference on Wednesday. He said that MUI has always maintained control over its certified products and has conducted impromptu inspections at a number of places. This is important to ensure halal products are available in a country with a population of more than 237.6 million, of which, more than 90 percent are Muslim. After all, pork-tainted bakso has also been found outside Java in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. The East Kalimantan chapter of the Islamic Liberation Front (FPI) has urged police to arrest the distributors of pork bakso in the region. "We urge police to quickly arrest the sellers of pork bakso, or we will conduct a raid ourselves," Habib Fauzi, the legal council chairman of FPI for East Kalimantan stressed.