Government workers still in holiday mode

Muningar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A day after Idul Fitri, most offices around the city had yet to resume daily activities on Tuesday as only a few employees had showed up for work.

Office buildings in the business centers along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin, as well as City Hall in Central Jakarta, were quiet on Tuesday, an official workday.

While many of the private offices were still closed, some that offered public services, such as banks were open.

Government offices were officially supposed to be open, but only few actually appeared to be operational, including the city's property tax office.

At City Hall, hundreds of the 15,000 employees, briefly made an appearance at the office only to greet their colleagues and then promptly returned home - an occurrence that has become somewhat of an annual tradition in the days following Idul Fitri.

As most employees quickly left after exchanging greetings, the office was deserted well before noon, long before the office hours officially end at 4 p.m.

The city administration's spokesman, Muhayat, admitted the fact and revealed a report from the City Inspectorate, saying that only 60 to 70 percent of over 106,000 city civil servants throughout the capital made even a token appearance at their offices, let alone focus on their duties of running the city, on Tuesday.

Only five percent of city employees are allowed to take an official leave after Idul Fitri, he said.

However, Muhayat said that a department head can allow some 30 percent of his or her subordinates to take up to two days off after Idul Fitri.

"Some of the public servants come to the office but usually they disappear by noon," he admitted.

He tried to assure the taxpayers that their public servants would resume full operations a week after Idul Fitri.

The Idul Fitri holidays fell on Sunday and Monday.

According to city regulations, employees who extended their Idul Fitri holidays illegally could receive punishment, such as a warning from the supervisor or face a reduction of the welfare allowance of Rp 12,500 a day.

But it is almost impossible to enforce the rule because their supervisors are usually absent as well.

Governor Sutiyoso himself was absent on Tuesday. According to a source at City Hall who asked to remain anonymous, the governor left for his hometown in Semarang, Central Java, to celebrate Idul Fitri. The governor was scheduled to receive guests on Wednesday at City Hall.

One employee at City Hall, Ita, said she and her colleagues decided to leave because they had nothing to do.

"I intend to come to the office to greet my colleagues as it is common here. As far as I know, no one has ever been punished for this," she told The Jakarta Post.

Separately, a guard at a private financial company on Jl. Sudirman said that his office was still closed.

"Employees will start working again next week," Suparman said, adding that only security guards are on duty during holidays.