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.