No more ‘wasted’ Fridays and Sundays: Johoreans hail new weekend schedule as win-win for families and businesses

CONCERNS OVER FACILITATING FRIDAY PRAYERS 

Some segments of Johor society, however, have urged the government to retain the current schedule. 

Member of Parliament for Pasir Gudang Hassan Abdul Karim said in a Facebook post that Friday is a “holy day” in Islam that is highly regarded by the Muslim community. Pasir Gudang is a district in southern Johor.

The current Friday-Saturday weekend, he said, has cultural and historical meaning and the impending change “seems to disregard Johor’s understanding of its own culture and political history”. 

“Johor was part of the Unfederated Malay States … and in these states, the weekend rest days are on Fridays and Saturdays,” said the politician, who is part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s party, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). 

The five unfederated Malay states were Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu. This status was accorded to these states before independence as they were standalone British protected states and had different institutions from the rest of the country. 

Today, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu observe Friday and Saturday as official weekend rest days.

Mr Hassan said that for most of Johor’s history, weekends have been observed on Friday-Saturday. The state only switched its weekends to Saturday-Sunday for the first time in 1994 when former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin served as its chief minister. 

Then in 2014, the state shifted to a Friday-Saturday weekend to allow Muslims to perform their prayers, as decreed by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. In Islam, Friday prayers are mandatory for Muslim men. 

In his announcement on Oct 7, Johor regent Tunku Ismail said he has tasked Johor chief minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi and Johor’s mufti Yahya Ahmad to “discuss and study every angle and aspect regarding this matter”.

“I hope that the private sector, the government and related parties allow sufficient time and space for Muslim workers to perform Friday prayers accordingly,” he added.

On Thursday night (Oct 10), the regent issued another statement saying the decision to shift the weekend took into account the wishes of Johoreans to spend more time with their families, as well as the state’s economy.