SINGAPORE — There will be a total of seven long public holiday weekends next year, up from six, following a revision to the date for Vesak Day which will now fall on a Friday.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Thursday (Sept 29) said that it has gazetted June 2, 2023 as the new public holiday for Vesak Day, following an announcement by the Singapore Buddhist Federation on the revised date. The previously announced date for Vesak Day was June 3, which is a Saturday.

In a statement on its website, the Singapore Buddhist Federation said that it had earlier advised MOM on the June 3 date for Vesak Day, as determined in reference to the Standard Chinese-Western Multi-Year Almanac.

It added: "Upon receiving feedback from members of the public, we have verified the date against other Chinese almanacs and have established that based on the Mahayana tradition, the date of Vesak Day 2023 shall fall on June 2, 2023, which coincides with the 15th day of the fourth lunar month." 

The federation apologised for any inconvenience caused and said that it would conduct more checks and verifications in future to prevent similar occurrences.

LONG WEEKENDS

Eight public holidays next year fall on a Friday, Sunday or Monday.

As Chinese New Year falls on consecutive days on Sunday, Jan 22 and Monday, Jan 23 next year, they will be part of a single long weekend of four days. Jan 24, a Tuesday, will also be a public holiday.

Three public holidays fall on a Sunday:

• New Year's Day (Jan 1)
• First day of Chinese New Year (Jan 22)
• Deepavali (Nov 12)

Three public holidays fall on a Monday:

• Second day of Chinese New Year (Jan 23)
• Labour Day (May 1)
• Christmas Day (Dec 25)

Two public holidays falls on a Friday:

• Good Friday (April 7)
• Vesak Day (June 2)

The other public holidays are:

• Hari Raya Puasa (Saturday, April 22)
• Hari Raya Haji (Thursday, June 29)
• National Day (Wednesday, Aug 9)

Employees who are required to work on a public holiday are entitled to an extra day’s salary at the basic rate of pay, in addition to their gross rate of pay for that day, MOM said.

Employers and employees may mutually agree to substitute a public holiday for another working day.

Employers also have the option of granting time-off-in-lieu, based on a mutually agreed number of hours, for working on a public holiday for the following group of employees: Workmen earning more than S$4,500 a month; non-workmen earning more than S$2,600 a month; and all managers and executives. CNA