The Johor state government today quashed talk that the weekend holidays for the state may be changed yet again.

Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the matter did not arise at all although it was a hot topic of discussion in social sites.

    

“There is no such thing. Don’t believe in rumours spread via social sites,” he told reporters after opening the ‘Road To MAHA’ programme at Dataran Penggaram in Muar today .

Starting Jan 1, the state weekend holidays were changed from Saturday and Sunday to Friday and Saturday, in line with the command from the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim.

The change to Friday was to enable Muslims to perform Friday prayers in comfort, Sultan Ibrahim said at his birthday celebration in November last year.

Talk that the weekend holidays would revert to Saturday and Sunday as practised before Jan 1 surfaced two weeks ago.

Prior to 1994, the weekend holidays in Johor were Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, Khaled said the state government was committed to developing agriculture and agro-based industries to turn Johor into a major food producer for the country.

Other than redevelopment of vacant land, the state government was planning  to develop Segamat district as a hub for agriculture and agro-based industries.

“The Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Ministry will be asked to develop a master plan.”

The state government had given aid worth RM11.2 million to 2,558 entrepreneurs via the Entrepreneur Promotion Programme from 2002 to 2011.

Khaled said 40 entrepreneurs had recorded sales of more than RM250,000 annually.

This prompted the state government to give another RM1 million to the programme this year.

- Bernama