Johor UMNO confident Friday will remain as state's weekend holiday

Johor UMNO supports the state government's decision of making Friday the weekend holiday in Johor, despite MCA launching a signature campaign to have Sunday back as the weekend holiday.

Its information chief, Datuk Samsolbari Jamali said so far, there were no signs of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin wanting to change that decision.

"We (Johor UMNO) are confident that the state government will stand firm by its decision of making Friday the weekend holiday in Johor," the Semarang assemblyman told Bernama, Sunday.

He believed the state government had given due consideration from various aspects before deciding to change the state's weekend holiday from Sunday to Friday early this year.

Samsolbari was commenting on the recent statement by Gelang Patah MCA chief Jason Teoh, who is also a party Central Working Committee member, on the party's campaign to collect signatures from the public on the change of Johor's weekend holiday.

Teoh had said for the fast growing economic sector in Johor, especially in Iskandar Malaysia which was actively attracting investors, the state's weekend holiday should be the same as that of other international communities.

From Jan 1 this year, the weekend holiday in Johor was changed from Sunday previously to Friday following the order from the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim.

Samsolbari, who is also Johor Barisan Nasional information chief, suggested that the private sector in Johor take Friday off as the weekend holiday so that parents working in the private sector could spend more time with their school-going children, whose weekend holiday is Friday.

However, he said he would obtain more information from Johor MCA on the signature campaign and its objective.

Johor PAS has already stated its support for Friday as the state's weekend holiday, as decreed by the Johor Sultan, although DAP, its partner in Pakatan Rakyat, disagreed.