The Jakarta Globe, December 13, 2013.
Nineteen untenured employees of Riau’s Rokan Hulu district government were fired in November because they did not show up to 5 a.m. prayers, a mandatory religious program put in place by the local government.
“Most of those who were fired were men,” Heni Widiastuti, the head of the Rokan Hulu human resources department said, as quoted by local media riauterkini.com on Wednesday. “They were fired in mid-November.”
On Nov. 8, the Democratic Party district head, Achmad, conducted a surprise inspection of the mosque inside the district’s office complex.
The district head issued the requirement three years ago, but the demands on staff did not end at morning prayers on a Friday. Civil servants were required to fast on Mondays and Thursday, attend a Koranic study group on Wednesday evenings and attend 3 p.m. prayers every working day.
One of the fired civil servants, who refused to give his name to Merdeka, said he was surprised to have been fired, given the lack of a formal warning, and disappointed that the fact that he lived far from the office — meaning he would need to sleep at the office every Thursday night — had not been deemed a reasonable excuse for giving it a miss.
“I did not join the morning group prayer, which is mandatory every Friday,” said the employee, who had worked at Rokan Hulu for five years. “I was ill, but I forgot to inform my boss.”
It appeared on Friday that his pleas had fallen on unsympathetic ears.
“They signed an agreement that said they were ready to be dismissed if they failed to comply with the policy,” Heni said.
The 19 employees worked at the Rokan Hulu district secretariat, irrigation agency, culture and tourism agency, mining and energy agency and communication and information agency.
(totally unconstitutional, and un-Islamic also, nothing by compulsion, only outof free will) siK.
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vr 13 dec 2013 - 19:52