China’s Meituan stirred up controversy online after announcing that it will begin offering separate logistics infrastructure for halal food, causing Chinese netizens to condemn the company for “discriminating against” non-Muslims while also worrying about the “rise of Islam” in their country.
Meituan couriers on bikes will now be armed with two delivery boxes, a normal one for non-halal food and a smaller one for halal food. Netizens viewed the change as discriminatory and vowed that they will delete the app en masse.
In Singapore, food delivery services like Ubereats, Foodpanda, Deliveroo and several others are the bike couriers we see day to day on the streets delivering food both (halal and non-halal) to their destinations.
These couriers store their delivery items inside a bag with their own company name imprinted on it. They do not carry two delivery boxes like what Meituan’s is trying to implement.
However is not clear though if the bag has compartments inside to separate non-halal from halal food. Or are there dedicated riders to deliver only halal food and only non-halal food? If not, should Singapore follow what Meituan is doing to safeguard the sanctity of minority food?
We also know that there are Malay riders who do not mind sending orders or food that are not halal. Can we hope for a change to this in the near future?
Rilek1Corner
