KUCHING: The government’s decision to grant an additional public holiday for Hari Raya Aidilfitri will not affect the private sector, said Deputy Minister of Finance I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.
“The holiday is either on Friday or Monday while Saturday and Sunday are the weekends. I don’t see it as affecting their operations.
“The festive mood is felt by everyone and the private sector is also approving leave (to the employees) and many are taking off from Friday to Monday.
“I do not see the decision to be detrimental to the private sector,” he told reporters here today (Apr 20).
He was asked to comment on whether the government’s decision to grant an extra public holiday was a populist move.
Ahmad Maslan, who is Pontian MP said the decision is also one of the government’s efforts to help the people in conjunction with the festive season, in addition to the toll-fee waiver between April 19-21 and April 24.
Previously, Mydin hypermarket managing director Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin criticised the government’s last-minute announcement of an additional holiday for Hari Raya, arguing that his company would have to bear losses of at least half a million ringgit.
On April 18, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government would declare an additional public holiday next Monday (April 24) if Aidilfitri falls on Friday (April 21).
Anwar said this is to allow the public to make travel plans and to prepare for the festivities.
However, if Raya falls on Saturday (April 22), the additional public holiday will be fixed for Friday, while the Raya public holiday falls on Monday.
