In a statement released today, the NGO’s co-president said it was a trade description issue and nothing more.
“The discovery of porcine substance in paint brushes should be treated solely as a trade description issue and should not be used to whip up racial-religious sentiments,” he said, calling for the proper labelling of products and food items that may contain substances forbidden by some religions.
He added that such a practice should also be extended to all major religions here such as Islam, which forbids its devotees from consuming pork, and Hinduism which forbids the consumption of beef.
Gan called for the relevant agencies like the domestic trade, co-operatives and consumerism ministry to regulate the practice in a transparent manner.
“The labelling process can be done at source, such as by manufacturers, importers or wholesalers. This is not unlike the ‘no meat’ labels found in vegetarian food items or ‘no animal testing’ labels found in some pharmaceutical products.
“Any statutory regulations and orders should be clearly conveyed to traders. Advice and warnings should be given before punitive measures are taken.
“Given the sensitivities surrounding this, high-profile enforcement would not be helpful,” Gan said.
According to the former MCA vice-president, many owners of the hardware shops which were recently raided had no idea that their products contained porcine substance as they had been selling them for years.
“I doubt the traders were even aware that the brushes purchased by consumers were used for the preparation of food.
“Therefore, the high-profile treatment accorded to the raids has only served to heighten anxiety in a society already tearing at the seams by radicals,” Gan said.
He called for the authorities to consider dispensing with punitive measures against these traders, if it could be established that the shopkeepers did not sell the products out of malice or greed.
“In a plural society like ours, enforcement on such sensitive matters needs to be done judiciously and without overt media publicity. In this case, there is no need to heighten anxiety among Muslims, nor fuel anger against these shop owners.
“This is the last thing we need at a time when radicals are already undermining our national unity, with their selfish narrow-minded agenda,” Gan said.
On Monday, the Selangor office of the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry seized eight paint brushes of various types believed to be made from pig bristles at three hardware shops in the city.
The ministry’s Selangor enforcement chief, Abdul Rosik Yakub, said the seizures were made in an operation against the sale of such brushes without any label at hardware stores in the state.
“Hardware shops are free to sell these brushes but they must be labelled and kept separately to make it clear to consumers, especially Muslims,” he said to reporters.
He said the paint brushes seized from the three premises, at Taman Sri Muda and Kota Kemuning, did not bear the A913 and A680 codes.
According to Jakim, the A913 and A680 codes on the brushes denote that they are made from pig bristles.