Jakarta City grants holiday leave for Indian Hindus

The Jakarta city administration has finally granted a special facultative holiday to Indian Hindus to celebrate Deepavali, which will fall on Nov. 2-3, 2013.

The Manpower and Transmigration Agency issued an official letter on Oct. 31, 2013, ordering all companies employing Indian Hindus to allow them to take off Nov. 4 to observe the holiday.

The Education Agency has also issued a similar letter instructing all schools to give Indian students the day off.

Chairman of the National Deepavali Committee A.S. Kobalen expressed appreciation toward the city administration for respecting Indian Hindu culture after centuries of ethnic Indian presence in the country.

"We convey our great thanks to the city administration for granting the day off to those of Indian descent to perform a series of ceremonies to commemorate the holiday. We hope the facultative holiday is effective not only this year but also for the coming years," he was quoted by beritajakarta.com as saying in Jakarta on Saturday.

For Hindus, Deepavali consists of a series of grand and solemn ceremonies to mark the triumph of the good over the bad.