Five-day week to be launched selectively

JAKARTA (JP): After a trial program that has run for more than a year, the government has decided that not all of its employees will enjoy a shorter, five-day working week.

State Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi told a hearing with the House of Representatives yesterday that the five-day working week would be introduced in selected provinces and regencies only. The reason, he said, was that not all areas are ready for the shorter working week.

Silalahi did not say when the five-day week would be introduced. He said that a presidential decree on the change was currently being prepared.

Among the employees who will enjoy the five-day working week will be those of central government agencies and most provincial administrations, including Jakarta's.

Most of those who will continue to work six days are the employees of regency administrations, particularly those in remote areas.

"Our study has found that the five-day week cannot be implemented simultaneously," Silalahi told the House's Commission II, which is responsible for state administration and domestic politics.

Silalahi said the shorter working week would not be extended to government agencies which provide vital services, such as hospitals, fire stations and banks.

The main aim of introducing the shorter working week is to improve civil servants' productivity and their service to the public, Silalahi said.

The five-day week will also allow civil servants to save on transportation and other expenses normally incurred in traveling to and from work, the minister said. He added that, furthermore, the shorter working week would enable the government employees concerned to spend more time with their families.

Hopes that civil servants would be able to spend significantly longer periods of time with their children were dashed when the government scrapped a trial run of a five-day week for schools only one month after it was launched in September last year.

Parents and religious leaders complained that a shorter school week would mean that their children would have to spend longer hours at school between Monday and Friday, at the expense of afternoon religious classes.

Legislators agreed yesterday that the introduction of five-day working week should be carried out selectively.

Referring to the trial program, Ali Hardi Kiai Demak of the United Development Party said the longer working hours that the five-day working entailed had left many government employees with even less to do, especially in the afternoon. (imn)