Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim said Perlis had initially declared Friday as a rest day, but it was later changed to Sunday.
“Muslims are allowed to carry out Friday prayers at many nearby places. For instance, there is no mosque in PWTC, but the surau is turned into a mosque on Fridays,” he said.
The Arau lawmaker was replying to Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PAS-Rantau Panjang), who said she had received complaints that many Muslims could not reach their office by 2.30pm due to traffic congestion after Friday prayers.
At present, only Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu have opted to declare Friday as a rest day.
Siti Zailah had also questioned whether the government would implement the proposed six-hour workday and flexible working hours, especially for married female civil servants.
Shahidan replied that the government had implemented flexi hours by allowing the staff to work from either 7.30am to 4pm, 8am to 5pm or 8.30am to 5.30pm.
He also clarified that the government had no plans to implement the six-hour workday.
He said other developed countries like Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, America and Britain had eight-hour workdays while workers in Singapore work 9.5 hours a day.
Previously, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) had asked for the country to move to a six-hour workday following the introduction of the policy in Sweden.
MTUC had said the change in working hours was crucial for employees’ health in Malaysia.