Penang MIC Youth chief M Pirakash said the halal certification was necessary under the education ministry’s required standards.
“The Indian canteen operator was advised 10 months ago to get halal certification, but even after 10 months, the operator failed to do so.
“(The halal certification) is not only imposed on the concerned party but also on 12 other canteen operators in the polytechnic.”
Earlier today, the trader, Gobi Krishnan Gopal, defended himself, saying he was let go due to new “shariah ISO policies”. It could not be confirmed whether the trader had actually applied for the halal status.
Pirakash added that if the trader had received his halal certification, he would have had his contract renewed.
“The (PSP) director is always willing to sit and listen to solve this matter amicably.
“He has also agreed to help the concerned Indian canteen operator in obtaining the halal certification.”
He said this in a statement after meeting PSP director Zulkifli Ariffin today. Also with him were two other state MIC Youth leaders, M Shanmugam and L Muneshwaran.
Neither Zulkifli nor his public relations officer have replied to queries posed by FMT.
However, Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan earlier said Gobi was let go due to purely “administrative reasons”.
Pirakash went on to defend Zulkifli, saying he was the kind of director who was always willing to listen to qualms or queries by all parties concerned.
Pirakash also questioned the motives of Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, who had openly criticised PSP and Zulkifli.
“Our question is very simple here: Why has Ramasamy not taken the effort to visit Zulkifli to find out more about this issue rather than making it his political weapon and attacking the federal government?
“Could it be because Gobi is Ramasamy’s staunch supporter and a member of the village security and development committee in his constituency?”
FMT has contacted Ramasamy and Gobi for comment and is awaiting their response.