ISKANDAR PUTERI: From January next year, the break period for Johor's civil servants will be extended to two hours compared to the current one-and-a-half hours.

Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said this will allow the state's Muslim civil servants to perform their Friday prayers in comfort.

"The state government has decided that the break period for civil servants on Friday will be extended from the current one-and-a-half hours to two hours.

"This is being done to ensure that the holiness of Friday is preserved, and for Muslims in the public sector to be able to perform Friday prayers more comfortably," he said during the tabling of the Johor 2025 Budget at the Bangunan Sultan Ismail, here today.

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Onn Hafiz said they will also increase the number of 'surau' in schools.

"The Johor State Islamic Religious Department (JAINJ) and the state Education Department will also do the necessary to ensure that male Muslim students are able to perform Friday prayers.

"This includes adding more 'surau', including school halls which fit the criteria to be allowed to organise Friday prayers," he said.

On Oct 7, Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim announced that as of Jan 1, 2025, weekends in the state would revert to Saturday and Sunday.

The change of weekends from the current Friday and Saturday was done after receiving the consent of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia and after consulting JAINJ.

On Jan 1, 2014, Sultan Ibrahim decreed that weekends in Johor would change to Friday and Saturday, as a mark of respect for Friday as a sacred day of worship, and a recognition of Islam as the state's official religion.

The change marked a return to the practice of Friday and Saturday as a weekend, as practised by Johor when it was a non-federated Malay state.

Johor only began implementing Saturday and Sunday as weekends from 1994, during the administration of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Menteri Besar.