Protecting the meek

A large number of our rural women are still poorly educated and live below the poverty line. To make ends meet many of these unsophisticated villagers migrate to urban centers to work as housemaids or shop attendants, or to industrial complexes as factory workers. And for many years some Middle East and rich East and Southeast Asian countries have also become like lamps for these moths.

To these women, working abroad at a relatively attractive salary with high hopes of worldly paradise has become a new dream for them. But often, the dreams have evaporated in the red-light districts of foreign cities after they have fallen victim to manipulation by obscure workforce agencies.

Despite the numerous reports of sexual and physical abuse of maids in Saudi Arabia, that Middle East country remains their most favored destination. An estimated 370,000 Indonesians, mostly women, are now working there, compared with some 33,000 in the United Arab Emirates and 260,000 in Malaysia.

Tragically, according to reports, of 6,800 sex workers in Malaysia today 4,300 (63.2 percent) are Indonesians. Worse still, they are mostly between 13 years and 16 years old. This week's media reports said the smuggling of Indonesian women is still going on.

The authorities and society in general rarely give adequate attention to the workers' destiny apart from non-governmental organizations, if there is a case of serious abuse and manipulation of Indonesian domestic helpers abroad.

At home, where practically no law has protected these women, employers do not feel they have an obligation to respect housemaids' rights. Of course, abuse of housemaids occurs from time to time but so far only the most serious cases have received the attention of the media.

The latest, and most pathetic, tragedy happened on Sept. 7, in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, when a housemaid committed suicide by burning herself to death as she allegedly could no longer tolerate being abused by her employers.

The abuse, according to her colleague, also a maid, included physical assault and being locked up in the house. The suspected employers are a married couple comprising a Navy officer and a woman police adjutant inspector. The case is till under investigation.

However, in the absence of law protecting housemaids nobody can say that this tragedy will be the last. A bylaw passed by Jakarta City Council in 1993 has not been implemented in practice. And it is a tragic irony that members of the City Council now regard the regulation as non-existent. Asked to comment on the dreadful case in North Jakarta, a city councillor was quoted as saying on Monday that he was not aware of the bylaw.

The bylaw does exist, but it does not say what should be the minimum weekly working hours and minimum salary of maids. But it gives the right to the city administration to tax domestic-help agencies, which recruit maids in rural areas and direct them to families in urban areas. Although the agencies are obliged to provide adequate shelter, training, skills, and mental and spiritual care for housemaids on their books, in reality virtually none of them observe this requirement. Most manipulate both maids and their employers.

The bylaw also stipulates that employers should provide their maids with a salary, food, clothing, supervision, proper shelter, good treatment, adequate rest, breaks for religious worship, health care and compensation in cases of dismissal. But in practice no law enforcers supervise these stipulations, so there are no penalties for transgressors.

For their part, employers also complain that it is very difficult to sign a practicable, enforceable contract with maids that are relatively uneducated, inconsistent in their behavior and tend not to plan ahead much. Employing them, so employers say, causes headaches but life without them would be exhausting. And so this undeclared war continues.