Jakarta (Jakarta Post/AsiaNews Network): Islamist Star Crescent (PBB) chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra has called on President Joko Widodo to reconsider his policy of banning government employees from working during the holidays. Host Iftar. Ramadan.
Usriel said in a statement on Thursday (March 23) that the new policy may cause dissatisfaction with President Joko Widodo, especially among devout Muslims.
“I am concerned that the circular may be used as fuel to paint the government as anti-Islam, and President Jokowi is anti-Islam,” Usriel said in a statement.
On Tuesday, two days before the start of Ramadan, President Jokowi ordered civil servants not to hold iftars this year, claiming that such gatherings could adversely affect the Covid-19 situation.
“We are currently in the transition period from pandemic to endemic, so we need to be very vigilant,” Cabinet Secretary Pramono Agung Wibowo wrote in a circular issued on Tuesday.
According to the notification, the ban on holding iftar gatherings will be enforced by all ministries, the Indonesian military (TNI), the national police, the Attorney General’s Office and other government agencies.
The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for communicating the ban to local governments.
