By: Liu Shu Juan (translated name)
Nanyang Siang Pau, 09-06-2014

The public sector of Johor State began to observe new weekend holidays on Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday since January 1 this year in line with Kelantan and Trengganu.

The change of weekends in the public sector also affects parking coupons and causes some public confusion even until now. For example, in areas under Johor Baru Municipality, there is no need to use parking coupons on Friday. However, if you are in Skudai or Senai, you will be fined if you parked without coupons.

Today (Monday) parents of school-going children have just spent a newly adjusted weekend as on Sunday, children were in school. And now the Government wants the private sector to follow the new weekend holidays. People are finding it hard to adjust.

With the order from the Johor Sultan, the Government has set up a committee to discuss the issue of new weekends. In other words, it is to explore the viability of getting the private sector to change the weekends in line with the civil service and make Friday and Saturday their rest days.

In fact, many years ago, Johor observed Friday and Saturday as weekend holidays. Then in the 80’s when Muhyiddin took over as the Menteri Besar, he reverted it back to Saturday and Sunday in line with Selangor and other states. Muhyiddin’s rationale was that if Johor did not observe the same weekends, there would be a loss of working hours. This was because if Johor worked on Sunday and civil servants in other states and the Federal government were on holiday and when Johor civil servants were resting on Friday, others were working, there would be a loss of resources. The switch back was welcomed by the public because it was in line with other states and also with neighbouring countries. And thus for many years, Johor people had been enjoying Sunday as a holiday and a family day.

Nevertheless, with the change of weekend holidays since the beginning of this year, it has become inconvenient for the family to get together. If for example the wife worked in a Chinese school and the husband in the private sector, as they observe different weekends, it would in the long run affect the quality of life in the family.

His Royal Highness the Sultan told the state assembly that Johor is a Muslim state and the change of weekends had the understanding of all communities. The Sultan wanted the state government to review the weekend holidays observed by the private sector so that the people of Johor will enjoy the same weekends regardless of whether they worked in the private or public sectors.

It is understood that there are difficulties for the private sector to work on Sunday especially when it involves bank transactions. Even if doing business within the country, there will be delays when other states are observing different weekend holidays. As our domestic market is small, many of our products have to be sold to Singapore, China, Japan and European countries which observe Saturday and Sunday as holidays and there is bound to be delays and other inconveniences.

Furthermore, many businesses or factories have their head-offices located in other states or overseas. When the subsidiaries of a conglomerate observe different weekend holidays, there will be administrative problems. Such inconvenience, when translated, will add to the cost. As we are striving to build Iskandar Malaysia as a world-class city, we should in fact have more “weapons” to enhance our competitiveness and to build a business-friendly environment.