Public services still on holiday

Public services still on holiday

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Hasnah expected the mobile post office to come on Monday. She
stood with several envelopes in her hand in the parking lot
across from the Blok A market on Jl. R.S. Fatmawati in South
Jakarta, where the mobile post office is usually parked. However,
it never came.

"I know the government offices are still on holiday until
Wednesday. But I thought, at least, the mobile post offices were
still working," Hasnah, a resident of Cilandak Barat in South
Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Alex of Tangerang needed to transfer money on Monday to his
family in Kabanjahe, North Sumatra, from his account at Bank
Rakyat Indonesia (BRI). But, in compliance with a government
circular, the banks were closed, as were government offices and
post offices.

The government imposed a mass leave for public officials from
Dec. 5 to Dec. 10, in conjunction with the Idul Fitri holiday
that fell on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7.

The decision to prolong the holiday is part of the central
government's efforts to help out the tourist industry, which has
suffered since the Oct. 12 bombings on the island of Bali.

On Monday, the capital was still in holiday mode, with none of
the bustling business and traffic congestion of a normal day in
Jakarta. Many stores were still closed for the holiday.

However, police stations and community health centers have
remained open throughout the holiday, although with reduced
staffs.

Second Insp. Sugito of the South Jakarta Police said the
police station was offering some services to the public during
the holiday, including renewing driver's licenses, but other
units were closed.

Rika Manik, a nurse in the emergency room at the Tebet
community health center in South Jakarta, said they had
stockpiled enough medicine to last through the holiday in case
they could not get more supplies.

The city itself was relatively quiet on Monday, with little
traffic on the main thoroughfares. The usually congested Semanggi
cloverleaf and the toll road exit in front of the Jakarta Police
Headquarters on Jl. Gatot Subroto were unusually free of
vehicles.

Traffic was flowing through the Kuningan and Pancoran
intersections in South Jakarta, with construction work on flyover
bridges halted for Idul Fitri.

But in other areas, street vendors and mikrolet (public
minivan) drivers flouting the traffic regulations caused nasty
traffic snarls.

There was a major backup in front of the Pulogadung bus
terminal in East Jakarta, caused by street vendors who took up
half the road and mikrolet that parked in the middle of the road
to pick up passengers.