Jakarta – Not all domestic workers in Indonesia are as lucky as Inem, Indonesia’s favorite maid in Nya Abbas Akub’s 1976 blockbuster comedy Inem Pelayan Seksi (Inem, the sexy maid), who ended up marrying her employer’s boss and living happily ever after.

In fact, Inem did much to romanticize the life of domestic workers, just as Julia Roberts did for sex workers in Pretty Woman.

The reality is that for many Asian women employed as domestic workers — particularly in Indonesia, discrimination and abusive practices are still rife.

At the national level, domestic workers are still not entitled to the same legal rights as those working in so-called formal sectors, nor have they been provided with any labor or social security scheme.

“We need to address this issue as they [domestic workers] are prone to fall victim to abusive and exploitative situations,” said activist Buyung Ridwan Tanjung of Rumpun Tjoet Njak Dien (RTND), a Yogyakarta-based NGO focusing on the struggle for domestic workers’ rights, recently.

Domestic workers are more vulnerable than other workers as their workplaces are private homes, out of sight of the rest of the population, Buyung went on. Most workers are uneducated and know little about their rights, thus limiting their bargaining power.

As a result, they are often trapped, earning ridiculously low wages, working long hours, sometimes even without pay, or worst, are at the mercy of human trafficking gangs.

According to 2008 Center Bureau of Statistics (BPS) and 2009 International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates, there are over 3 million domestic workers in Indonesia and more than 6 million Indonesian domestic workers working abroad. There are an estimated 100 million domestic workers in the world.

“It’s actually the government’s responsibility to provide domestic workers with a minimum level of protection and the same rights as other workers,” said Buyung, also a coordinator for RTND’s advocacy division.

At the municipal level, Yogyakarta acts as the benchmark for legal protection, Buyung went on, especially following the municipal legislature’s approval of bylaw No. 13/2009 on manpower affairs, which includes article 37 on domestic workers.

It is however regrettable, he said, that the article was only valid for six months, following the issuance of Governor Decree No. 244/2009 in December of the same year, annulling the article.

The annulment of the article prompted local activists and domestic workers to stage a rally on Tuesday, a week after the revelation of the decree issuance, demanding the decree be canceled.

Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, however, is standing by his decision, arguing the municipal bylaw regulates work in the formal sector only, not domestic work, which is considered an informal job.

“The provincial administration will have a separate bylaw on PRTs [domestic workers]. We will be setting up a team for the province, not just the municipality of Yogyakarta,” the Sultan said as quoted by local media on Thursday.

Sujanarko, the chairman of the municipal legislature commission overseeing the issue, called on protesters to remain patient while waiting for the House of Representatives to deliberate the bill on PRTs.

He said the bill had been on the list of priorities of the 2010 national legislation program (Prolegnas), which would therefore give the municipal legislature a stronger base to discuss the matter at the regional level.

Yogyakarta activists and domestic workers, however, considered the governor’s decree a setback although the inclusion of article 37 in the bylaw was actually still far below what they initially expected – a separate bylaw on domestic workers.

“The article means a lot to us, as it legally acknowledges PRT as workers,” Sri Murtini, a domestic worker, said.

The article, which comprises three points, stipulated that a working contract between employers and their domestic workers had to be drawn up. It also mandated the mayor of Yogyakarta to prepare a separate bylaw on domestic workers.

According to Buyung, the article was also the result of a 10-year struggle and considered a success, especially because it was the first bylaw that ever mentioned PRT as workers.

“That’s why we have all been concerned about the governor’s decree annulling it [the article]. We strongly reject the decree and demand article 37 be maintained in bylaw No. 13/2009,” Buyung said.
Having the PRT bill acknowledged as one of a priority for Prolegnas signaled that municipal regulation protecting PRTs was a pressing matter.

RTND data indicated the number of cases of physical, financial and psychological abuse of PRTs had not decreased.

“PRT is one of the doors leading to human trafficking,” said Buyung, underlining the urgent need to regulate the work of domestic workers.

Yogyakarta, previously a transit area for human trafficking, he said, has now developed into a destination area, especially for domestic workers from Nusa Tenggara, mostly because of an increase the demand for cheap workers.

Lita Anggraini, the coordinator for the National Network for Domestic Worker Advocacy (Jala PRT), pointed out that a special law on PRT at the national level was urgently needed.

It has become especially urgent to draft a law on PRTs at a national level since the government is also demanding other countries to protect Indonesian migrant workers, most of whom are domestic workers, she said.

“We cannot demand other countries to give reasonable wages and working hours as well as fair legal protection while we can’t even protect them [domestic workers] in our own country, can we?” Lita said, expressing relief the bill her network has helped drafted was finally on the 2010 Prolegnas’ list of priorities.

The bill, according to Lita, regulates the work carried out by PRTs and the demands service users (employers) can make on their employees.

It also categorizes domestic work, alludes to PRT rights and includes mechanisms to settle disputes between workers and service users. The bill recommends that children, who account for some 30 percent of the total number of PRT, should no longer be employed as domestic workers.

With regard to the PRT National Day, celebrated on Feb. 15, Lita insisted that such a commemoration was needed to remind the public of the conditions endured by workers that had contributed a great deal to the social and economical well-being of Indonesians.

“We highlight that the work of PRTs is just as dignified as any other profession. They need skills and deserve respect,” Lita said.

Why Feb. 15? According to Lita, activists and PRTs across the nation held a large gathering in Surabaya, East Java, in 2001 to respond to the death of 14-year old PRT Sunarsih at the hands of her employer.

“Every Feb. 15, we hope that all PRTs in the country will have the day off,” said Lita, adding the PRT day was first launched in 2007 in the same city.

Empowered workers Activists from Rumpun Tjoet Njak Dien (RTND) and members of the Congress of Yogyakarta PRT Organizations (KOY) stage a rally in front of the Yogyakarta municipal legislative council on Feb. 9, 2010. (Source: The Jakarta Post)

Sri Wahyuni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Yogyakarta   |  Tue, 02/16/2010 1:05 PM  |  Features

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/16/don%E2%80%99t-forget-inem-domestic-workers.html