Maid unwilling to return to chaotic Jakarta

By Juliane Gunardono

JAKARTA (JP): Dirty plates, cups and pans fill the kitchen and dirty clothes are piled in front of the washing machine waiting to be cleaned. The house has been in disarray since the maid, Riri, went home to her village in Lampung two weeks ago.

"The panic starts in the morning," said Tanto, who works in a bank. "When I get up, my wife has already left for her job in a hospital. So I have to make myself breakfast, iron my shirt and tidy the house afterwards, so my wife won't be angry when she comes home. Nearly every day I am late for work."

A few weeks before Idul Fitri, Tanto received a call from Riri's parents. "We are afraid", they told Tanto. "We see so much bad news about Jakarta on the television. Please send Riri back home."

Although Tanto has gone to several agencies for a new maid, he still does not have one because the agencies seem to be completely booked.

"At the moment we can only fulfill about 10 percent of the requests for maids," Totok from the Bhakti Asih agency said Thursday. "Every day we have about 100 people asking for a maid, but we only have about 10 women applying to us for jobs." Last year after Idul Fitri there were about 50 women a day applying to the agency.

There are many agencies in the city placing maids in households, and those who wish to hire a domestic helper from an agency must be willing to pay between Rp 75,000 and Rp 170,000.

Anis, who own such an agency, said, "Since Idul Fitri, we have had only three women a day applying to the agency for work. It used to be five or six a day."

The uncertain situation in Jakarta, especially the rumors of big demonstrations and riots planned for Jan. 27, apparently prevented many maids from returning to the city. Many of the maids' parents in the villages would not allow their children to return to Jakarta, even though the families needed the money.

"Some of my friends are bored to death in Lampung," a maid who has just returned to Jakarta told The Jakarta Post. "There is nothing for them to do there. They only sit around waiting for the situation in Jakarta to improve so their parents will let them return to the capital. We are all used to working and earning our own money, not sitting around."

While the status of maids is quite low, their work is difficult. For monthly wages between Rp 100,000 for beginners up to Rp 300,000 for experienced maids, these women work seven days a week without fixed working hours and only one day off a month. They cook, buy food, wash the dishes and the clothes, clean the house and sometimes take care of the employer's babies or small children.

"We never thought about how much she was doing for us until we were without her," said Chris, an American working as a lawyer in Jakarta, about his maid. "Now our house is a mess. We have seldom missed anybody like we miss her."

Many people are experiencing the same feelings since the supply of maids in the city became so low.

"Some people coming here are really desperate," said an employee at the Makmur maid agency. "They have to go back to work, but they can't because there is nobody to take care of the children and the house."

Felicia, for example, has to ask a friend who has no job at the moment to look after her three children while she is at work. A cousin also helps her to clean the house. "But it's not the same," said Felicia. "You cannot imagine how it is without our maids. We are addicted to them."

Because Jakarta turned out to be quiet on the day of the rumored riots this week, Totok has good news for Felicia and others who desperately miss their maids.

"Our coordinators in Java and Lampung tell us the situation will return to normal in about one week," he said. "The people in the villages are calmer now."

If this is true, there is reason to be optimistic. The maids might return to Jakarta soon, before the situation possibly deteriorates further as the general election approaches.

While the absence of the maids makes many people's lives difficult, the experience might give them a greater respect for their maids. These domestic helpers might receive not only a raise, but also more attention.

For example Yani, from Cepu, Central Java, was picked up earlier this week at Senen station by her boss' driver for the first time since she began to work as a maid in the household three years ago. "They are very happy to have me back, especially because their baby-sitter has gone home too," she said.

"Maybe people will appreciate their maids more than they used to after this year's Idul Fitri because now they see that their households become chaotic without them," Totok said.