Too stupid to be true!

Bengkulu Police Arrest 4 Civil Servants Found Not Fasting.

August 04, 2011

Bengkulu. Police in Bengkulu city in Sumatra have arrested four civil servants, including one non-Muslim, for not fasting.

According to Bengkulu Police head Khairul Saleh, the four people were found eating in a restaurant during a sweep by authorities on Thursday.

“For the time being they were given a written reprimand. It would be up their offices concerned to follow it up,” Khairul said.

The sweep was carried out on the orders of Bengkulu Mayor Ahmad Kanedi, who said on the first day of Ramadan that city employees who did not fast during the holy month would be dismissed from their jobs.

He also offered a Rp 1 million ($118) bounty to citizens to help catch administration officials eating in public.

The four civil servants arrested on Thursday were likely not employees of the city, Khairul said, and one, identified as R.T., was a non-Muslim employee of the local Trade Ministry office.

He said the four would be referred to their office supervisors.

“They have all been released and we will send the written reprimands to their superiors for a follow-up according to the existing policy. If they are city employees they will certainly be given a sanction by the mayor,” he said.

He added that police would continue their sweeps throughout the holy month to discourage civil servants from eating during the day.

Civil servants were supposed to serve as an example during Ramadan, he said, even if they were not Muslim.


(x the JG)