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Johor civil servants to get extra public holiday to accomodate Sat-Sun weekend change

But students will still have to sit for their scheduled examinations.

Tan Min-Wei

January 02, 2025, 06:07 PM

Johor’s civil servants will enjoy an additional public holiday this coming Monday, Jan. 6.

6 day work week, 3 day weekend

The Star reported that the extra day is due to Johor changing the recognised weekend.

Since 2014, Johor has observed Friday and Saturday as the official weekend in the state, making it one of four states in Malaysia to do so.

But in October 2024, the crown prince of Johor, Ismail, announced that Johor would be reverting to the Saturday-Sunday observance of the weekend, in line with the federal government, as well as neighbouring Singapore.

However, due to New Year’s Day being on Wednesday in 2025, this means that Johor’s civil servants will work a six-day week, from Sunday, Dec. 29 to Friday, Jan. 3.

The additional public holiday is to compensate for the additional day worked.

Uplifting Johor

The change initially prompted some complaints, but it has now gone through.

It is unclear if any complainers moved to other states as encouraged by the crown prince.

At the time, Ismail said that the change would "align" with the implementation of development projects "that uplift Johor".

The public holiday includes all public servants, as well as schools.

But studies come first

But Jan. 6 is also the date of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination for English and Tasawwur Islam, as reported by the New Straits Times.

The SPM is roughly equivalent to the GCE O-level examination in Singapore.

Affected students and the teachers are required to supervise them so that the examinations will not be postponed and will go ahead as scheduled.

The head of Johor’s education department said that teachers would receive a replacement day of leave, but students would likely get no such compensation.

It is unknown whether the state’s VEP offices will remain open or if cross-border traffic will be affected.

As Malaysian federal agencies man the border crossings, the holiday, which was announced in early December 2024, should likely not affect travel plans.

Mothership has reached out to the VEP processing body TCSens for more information.