Weekend holiday schedule
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
THE businesses again reiterated their demand for rescheduling the weekly holidays on Saturdays and Sundays at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) held in Dhaka last Sunday. The Commerce Minister, who spoke at the function, while supporting such a rescheduling to facilitate interactions of the local businesses with their global counterparts on Fridays, said the issue is under active consideration of the government. He, however, pointed out the sensitivity of the issue and said a decision would come only after necessary consultations with the religious leaders, business houses and other stakeholders.
General Ershad shifted the weekly holiday from Sunday to Friday soon after his coming to power through a military coup in March 1982, with the objective of cashing on the religious sentiment of the majority Muslim population of the country. Actually, nobody had made any demand for changing the weekly holiday. The General on his own had brought about the change that has been keeping the business cut off from the rest of the world for three consecutive days in a week, starting from Friday. Even during the time when Bangladesh was a part of then Pakistan, Sunday was weekly holiday. The weekly holiday falls on Sundays in 36 out of 57 Muslim countries across the world. In 1977, the government of Pakistan, under pressure from the religious parties, made Friday as the weekly holiday. But 20 years later in 1997, the country reverted to Sunday as the full weekly holiday. However, Friday was made half-holiday to facilitate the saying of Jumma prayer.
Religious leaders are against Sunday as weekly holiday because it is a colonial legacy that does not take into account the sanctity of Friday. Moreover, they argue, Sunday is the Christian world's day of worship. But the businesses have been making the demand for declaring Saturday and Sunday as weekly holiday for economic reasons. They do not want to be out of sync with the members of the international business community whose enterprises or units remain closed on Sundays. The private sector people, particularly the exporters, are aggrieved because the weekly holiday on Friday puts them in a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis their international rivals in a tough global market.
The Prime Minister in the maiden session of the present parliament, in a reply to a question, had said the government did not have any immediate plan to bring about a change in the weekly holiday schedule. But she said the issue would be taken up later. So, she did not reject outright the issue of revising the weekly holiday schedule. The merit of changing the weekly holidays needs to be objectively and dispassionately considered, keeping the larger economic interests of the country. All concerned do need to appreciate this and must not relegate the nation's economic interests to the background. The issue does, no doubt, involve the religious sentiment of the people but it must not be forgotten that the peoples in the majority of those Muslim countries where the weekly holiday falls on Sundays are no less Muslims than the people of Bangladesh are. On its part, the government would have to deal with the weekly holiday issue deftly. It would be relevant to note here that the government servants who are now used to the observance of their weekend on Friday and Saturday are most likely to oppose the move for any change in weekend holiday schedule. The bureaucracy may build up resistance, offering the reason of "religious sentiment of the people", to any change in the holiday schedule. The government has to be cautious about it. If it decides to revise the weekly holiday schedule, a sort of motivational campaign might be necessary to explain adequately the reasons behind reverting to Sundays as weekly holiday.
General Ershad shifted the weekly holiday from Sunday to Friday soon after his coming to power through a military coup in March 1982, with the objective of cashing on the religious sentiment of the majority Muslim population of the country. Actually, nobody had made any demand for changing the weekly holiday. The General on his own had brought about the change that has been keeping the business cut off from the rest of the world for three consecutive days in a week, starting from Friday. Even during the time when Bangladesh was a part of then Pakistan, Sunday was weekly holiday. The weekly holiday falls on Sundays in 36 out of 57 Muslim countries across the world. In 1977, the government of Pakistan, under pressure from the religious parties, made Friday as the weekly holiday. But 20 years later in 1997, the country reverted to Sunday as the full weekly holiday. However, Friday was made half-holiday to facilitate the saying of Jumma prayer.
Religious leaders are against Sunday as weekly holiday because it is a colonial legacy that does not take into account the sanctity of Friday. Moreover, they argue, Sunday is the Christian world's day of worship. But the businesses have been making the demand for declaring Saturday and Sunday as weekly holiday for economic reasons. They do not want to be out of sync with the members of the international business community whose enterprises or units remain closed on Sundays. The private sector people, particularly the exporters, are aggrieved because the weekly holiday on Friday puts them in a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis their international rivals in a tough global market.
The Prime Minister in the maiden session of the present parliament, in a reply to a question, had said the government did not have any immediate plan to bring about a change in the weekly holiday schedule. But she said the issue would be taken up later. So, she did not reject outright the issue of revising the weekly holiday schedule. The merit of changing the weekly holidays needs to be objectively and dispassionately considered, keeping the larger economic interests of the country. All concerned do need to appreciate this and must not relegate the nation's economic interests to the background. The issue does, no doubt, involve the religious sentiment of the people but it must not be forgotten that the peoples in the majority of those Muslim countries where the weekly holiday falls on Sundays are no less Muslims than the people of Bangladesh are. On its part, the government would have to deal with the weekly holiday issue deftly. It would be relevant to note here that the government servants who are now used to the observance of their weekend on Friday and Saturday are most likely to oppose the move for any change in weekend holiday schedule. The bureaucracy may build up resistance, offering the reason of "religious sentiment of the people", to any change in the holiday schedule. The government has to be cautious about it. If it decides to revise the weekly holiday schedule, a sort of motivational campaign might be necessary to explain adequately the reasons behind reverting to Sundays as weekly holiday.