Netray Monitoring On The Three Day Eid Holiday: Fun For Workers, Harming Entrepreneurs

Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (Menpan RB), Abdullah Azwar Anas. (Between/Gilang Galiartha)

The government has set the addition of joint leave for Eid al-Adha to three days from Wednesday, June 28, 2023 to Friday, June 30, 2023. This stipulation is contained in the Joint Decree of the Minister of Religion, the Minister of Manpower, and the Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform dated June 16, 2023.

The workers responded positively, especially collective leave falls at the same time as the school holiday schedule. The right moment for family vacations. However, a number of entrepreneurs responded negatively. Employee productivity will definitely decrease, while they still have to pay full monthly fixed fees.

To find out how the public responded to the government's decision, Netray monitored online news media reports using the keyword @&Iduladha holiday for the last two weeks on 8-21 June 2023. As a result, Netray found 908 articles containing keywords from 146 Indonesian online media. Eid holiday began to be debated since the beginning of June 2023 and began to widely become media coverage on June 9, 2023.

The Central Leadership of Muhammadiyah through its reckoning has set the Eid al-Adha to fall on June 28, 2023. One day earlier with Eid al-Adha on the government calendar which falls on June 29, 2023. Then, the General Secretary of the Muhammadiyah Central Executive Abdul Mu'ti proposed the Eid al-Adha 1444 H holiday to be two days on June 28 and 29, 2023. After that, news appeared fluctuating and again creeping up on June 18 to coincide on the day of the announcement of the NU Isbat Session which set Eid al-Adha to fall on June 29, 2023. This result also brought up new proposals regarding the Eid al-Adha holiday. Not only 28 and 29, but added 1 more days on June 30, 2023.

"In the news, the Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas, at that time, said that the proposed joint leave for three days was only waiting for President Jokowi's approval," wrote Netray in its report on June 22, 2023. Finally, the President approved. This decision is regulated in the Joint Decree (SKB) 3 Minister No 624/2023, No 2/2023, No 2/2023 concerning National Holidays and Joint Leave of 2023 which was signed by the Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah, as well as Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas.

Various considerations are the reason the government decided this. As Azwar Anas said, a long holiday will make people have a quality time with their families.

BCA economist David Sumual also considered the decision to be very appropriate because it could have a positive impact on the community's economy, especially tourism.

However, a number of entrepreneurs criticized it. Executive Director of the Indonesian Textile Association (API), Danang Girindrawardana, said the decision regarding collective leave was too sudden. This resulted in labor-intensive companies having to bear twice the overtime wages of workers at a total cost of around IDR 5-7 billion.

Not only Danang, Netray wrote, criticism also came from Sofjan Wanandi, the former chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) who is also a senior entrepreneur. He was surprised by the government's decision. Instead of continuing to boost productivity in order to increase competitiveness, the government has provided too many long holidays for workers.

"The more holidays, the more strange the reasons, the more competitive it will be with other countries," said Sofjan as written by Netray.

In contrast to entrepreneurs who are in the consumption sector, such as transportation, the food and beverage industry, hospitality, and tourism. Instead, they welcomed and stated that they were ready to welcome the movement of the community.

The 3 days of Eid al-Adha leave from Wednesday to Friday plus Saturday and Sunday holidays allows people to have the opportunity to vacation and return to their hometowns. Of course, many people have planned to fill their holidays with tours, at least to tourist attractions.

This is in line with the goals of the government as stated in the joint decree, In order to increase community mobility, economic growth and tourism as well as provide opportunities for togetherness with children during school holidays on Eid al-Adha in 2023.