G

orontalo Governor Rusli Habibie has issued a new policy requiring Muslim civil servants to hold mass prayers and attend Islamic religious lectures every Friday, in an effort to prevent infidelity and adultery among officials.

The policy has come into effect in April at every provincial agency (SKPD) within the Gorontalo provincial administration.

Rusli said he had received reports of infidelity, such as a letter from a husband whose wife was listed as a civil servant in an agency within the provincial administration.

'€œHis wife cheated on him and would often send text messages to another man, who she claimed was her superior. What kind of a superior sends text messages late at night?'€ asked Rusli.

Aside from personal damage, Rusli said such deviant behavior tarnished the image of the provincial administration. Thus, he regarded spiritual enlightenment as necessary for every civil servant within the provincial administration.

He also urged all civil servants and every Muslim employee to leave their offices temporarily and go to the nearest mosque immediately upon the call for prayer, to perform the dzuhur (noon) and ashar (afternoon) prayers in a congregation.

'€œThere are still some civil servants who just hang around in the cafeteria and do not pray,'€ Rusli said.

The new policy has prompted discussion among local civil servants.

One male employee of the gubernatorial office welcomed the policy.

'€œAren'€™t religious lectures good? Just accept them, as they are spiritually good,'€ said the man, who requested anonymity. He added his office had commenced holding religious lectures early last month.

A female civil servant working in a different agency said that she accepted the policy in principle, especially in terms of broadening her religious views, but that she disagreed if it was aimed at improving the attitude of civil servants.

'€œWho could measure the level of a person'€™s faith and devotion? Many people pray five times a day, but they still commit corruption,'€ said the woman, who also wished to remain anonymous.

Separately, female activist Kusmawaty Matara, from the Gorontalo branch of the Women'€™s Institute for Research and Empowerment (WIRE-G), criticized the new policy, saying it was irrelevant.

'€œReligious lectures are apparently good, but they are unsuitable for resolving this issue,'€ said Kusmawaty.

She added religion was the domain of individuals, and should not be used to resolve issues such as infidelity among civil servants.

According to Kusmawaty, the governor should have issued a policy that was more relevant to overcoming the issue, such as implementing a system to reward or punish employees based on their achievements and behavior.

She said the gubernatorial policy was patriarchal and put women at a disadvantage.

Kusmawaty said that Rusli, who is also a Golkar Party politician, had previously ordered all female personal assistants of officials to be replaced by men, on the grounds that cases of adultery between officials and their female assistants were widespread.

During the early days of his leadership in 2012, Rusli also issued a controversial policy requiring the salaries of married male civil servants to be transferred directly into their wives'€™ bank accounts, to ensure that salaries were used for family needs and not squandered, shortly before requiring all female civil servants to wear Muslim head dress at work, saying such attire could control people'€™s behavior and looked more respectful.