It’s only a little over a month until the (estimated) end of Ramadan and Idul Fitri holidays on June 15 and 16, but until today the length of the surrounding Lebaran holiday period was up in the air due to government indecision. After officials announced in mid-April that they were adding 3 extra cuti bersama (collective leave) days to the holiday period in a bid to reduce the season’s notoriously terrible traffic, complaints from businesses caused them to backpedal and say they needed to study the issue further first.
But today, finally, the government has made the extra cuti bersama days of June 11-12 and June 20 official, meaning the entire Lebaran holiday period will now definitely run from June 11-20.
The final decision on the extra holidays, which was declared through a joint decree involving three ministries, was announced by Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani during a press conference today.
“The joint decree remains in effect, eight points will be followed up by ministries and institutions and four ministers will follow up to through their subordinates,” Puan said as quoted by Detik.
Puan said that some points had been added to the decree after receiving input from business owners who were worried about the negative effect of the extra leave days, including ones giving additional flexibility for employers in implementing them.
“With this, the implementation of the extra leave days can work well, and of course, the business world can still run smoothly,” she said.
On April 17, the government added June 11, 12 and 20 to the Idul Fitri holiday period, which was previously set for June 13-19. The main reason the government decided on the additional leave days was to ease the terrible mudik traffic that overtakes the country each year as millions of people travel back to their hometowns to spend the holidays with their family, a mass movement that sometimes results in deadly logistical chaos. In 2016, 12 people died when they got stuck in a three-day, 21 km long traffic jam at the Brebes exit (Brexit) toll gate while attempting to make their way home for the holiday.
