Pray or get sacked, Indonesian city orders top staff
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An Indonesian city has ordered its top civil servants to visit their local mosque for dawn prayers or risk being sacked, underscoring the growing influence of religion across the world’s biggest Muslim majority country.
Senior bureaucrats in Palembang, co-host of last month’s Asian Games, are now required to visit their local mosque at the crack of dawn — and they’ve been warned that a smartphone app is in the works to sniff out the less-than-devout.
The order, which may be a first for Indonesia, is aimed at helping bureaucrats better relate to residents’ concerns, while the early wake-up call could also boost productivity, city spokesman Amiruddin Sandy said.
“By praying together at dawn with regular people, we get a chance to hear from them directly,” he said, adding that common complaints ranged from water not running to broken street lights.
The edict comes as Indonesian society’s lurch toward religious conservatism has challenged its long-held reputation for having a tolerant brand of Islam.
Palembang’s new rule, which started on Wednesday, applies to Muslim members of its 16,000-strong civil service, although only 1,100 senior staff will risk a sacking if they skip dawn prayers.
The city’s Mayor plans to do some spot-checking until the local government launches a smartphone app to keep track of attendance, Mr. Sandy said.
“If we find an official disobeying the regulation, we won’t immediately sack him. We will summon him first and ask why he didn’t go to the mosque,” he said.