Civil servants have yet to provide public services

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Muslim Idul Fitri holidays are officially over, however, the holiday mood continued at most government offices in several major cities through Wednesday, one day after public services should have officially returned to normal.

Government offices in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura were open for only about two hours, before some of the employees went home at about 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

"I came to the office at 9 a.m. and left at 11 a.m. as everybody went home," said Simon, an employee at the General Administration Office of the gubernatorial building.

The Jayapura regent's office was also still quiet.

"Civil servants here are mostly lazy. Idul Fitri holidays have just finished, but Christmas and the New Year are nearing, they must be reluctant to go to work," a Jayapura resident, who asked for anonymity, told The Jakarta Post.

In Medan, North Sumatra, most civil servants at City Hall offices were still absent on Wednesday as well.

However, provincial spokesman Sakhyan Asmara claimed that services to the public were normal, "despite the fact that the number of employees was smaller than usual."

"Many of them are still celebrating Idul Fitri with their relatives. It is understandable," Sakhyan said.

The Medan mayoralty and its legislative council office also looked empty, with only a small number of employees and legislators present on Wednesday.

"I am disappointed, the official I want to see is absent," a resident, Zulkifli Fahmi, said.

A similar scene was also reported in Yogyakarta. The government's activities were sluggish on Wednesday as the employees left their offices much earlier than they should have.

The situation at the gubernatorial office on Jl. Malioboro was rather busy --albeit not much work was taking place -- on Wednesday morning when hundreds of civil servants and the public were allowed to meet Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X at the Kepatihan Hall to directly extend Idul Fitri greetings. The complex was empty and quiet soon after the event ended at 11 a.m.

West Java City Hall on Jl. Wastukancana in Bandung, saw most of its hundreds of offices closed. The only offices which started to operate on Tuesday were the Information and Communications Office and the Law and Order Office.

"They all should have been back to work. The Idul Fitri atmosphere may still loom," said Cece Subarna one of the few people who did show up.

He predicted that public services would resume to normal next week. "The bosses are usually tolerant and will not punish the tardy employees," said Cece.

Governor R. Nuriana's office in Gedung Sate, Jl. Diponegoro was also quiet.

In Surabaya, East Java, all government offices started to operate on Tuesday. But on Wednesday business was still very sluggish.

A security officer at the mayoralty office said that many employees were still busy with their internal events relating to the holidays.

"In the next two or three days business will return to normal, I believe," said the security officer, who refused to be identified.

In the Central Java town of Purwokerto, the business at the Banyumas regent's office had yet to return to normal.

"Maybe only two-thirds of the employees are in today. There were about half yesterday," the regency spokesman, Didi Rudwiyanto said on Wednesday.

"You can see that the public service offices (Samsat) were empty before noon. All the employees had left," Didi said. "The most terrible thing is that none of the regency legislators have returned to work so far."

A very different situation was witnessed in Denpasar, in the Hindu-dominated island of Bali.

The Idul Fitri holidays were celebrated only by a small minority of Muslims in Denpasar and other places on the island.

Working activities in most government and private offices were therefore as normal as any other day on Wednesday.

Ketut Sumarta, an official at Bank Indonesia's Bali office, said that all employees are already active. "We got only two days off during the Idul Fitri days. There is no excuse for us to be away from the office after that."