DPR Urges Ministry Of Health To Implement Supreme Court Decision On Halal Vaccine Procurement

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IX DPR RI Saleh Partaonan Daulay asked the Ministry of Health to immediately implement the decision of the Supreme Court (MA) regarding the judicial review of Presidential Decree No. 99/2020 concerning the obligation to provide halal vaccines for Muslim citizens. Saleh considered that the decision was very urgent to be executed in the midst of the government's incessant vaccination. According to him, the government inevitably has to provide halal vaccines in every vaccination implementation throughout Indonesia.

"The demands of the Indonesian Muslim Consumer Foundation (YKMI) are clear. They want the rights of citizens to get halal vaccines to be fulfilled immediately. And that is in line with the mandate of the halal guarantee law," Saleh told reporters, Friday, April 22.

Although it is a little late, continued Saleh, the Supreme Court's decision will reduce the debate that exists in the community. This is due to the fact that so far there have been many members of the public who have been reluctant to participate in vaccinations due to the halal status of the available vaccines. With yesterday's Supreme Court decision, the chairman of the PAN faction of the DPR hopes that the entire community will be willing to be vaccinated immediately.

"The demand to provide halal vaccines has long been conveyed. Not only in the community, in the DPR itself it has been voiced very often. But it is strange that the government has not implemented this demand," said Saleh. "It is not clear why the government did not make this a top priority," he added.

In that context, Saleh added, the Ministry of Health needs to be reminded to comply with the Supreme Court's decision. "Don't look for excuses anymore. The situation is no longer as difficult as it was at the beginning of the pandemic. The government has sufficient time to procure halal vaccines," concluded the legislator for the PAN for the North Sumatra electoral district.