Halal Certification Challenges for Javanese Muslim Entrepreneurs in a Phenomenological Perspective

This paper aims to examine the Muslim community
responses about Halal policy in Indonesia, especially for
micro, small, and medium enterprises or known as
UMKM in articulating Halal certification socially on their
business products. The study becomes interesting since
normatively Halal product policy is predicted to provide
great opportunities for the community, including for
UMKM. However, various responses occur in the
community to this policy. Thus, Halal policy in its
products has not been implemented optimally, especially
for small and medium entrepreneurs. On the other hand,
it seems more profitable for high-end entrepreneurs
because they have better resources than small
entrepreneurs. By using the phenomenological method,
the study looks at how Muslim entrepreneurs respond to
this policy in an emic perspective. It can be concluded
that the community's response to the halal policy is
categorized into four dilemma models; 1. Public
awareness, especially entrepreneur on JPH regulations is
still lacking. So, the willingness to conduct Halal
certification for their products is also low 2. The cost of
Halal products is considered quite burdensome.
Although, the government holds a free financing
program, the quota is limited and uneven. 3. Halal
management chain is too bureaucratic and complicated.
Therefore, products of UMKM seem to be administrative
since they are only related to production. 4. Most UMKM
have low competitiveness. In fact, many UMKM assume
that Halal does not become one of the main branding in
facing business competition with other global products