Brigitta Kinadi – With news outlets scrambling to cover the latest stories about Indonesian migrant workers abroad, from a beheading in Saudi Arabia to the latest roundup of illegals in Malaysia, the well-being of local household workers is usually ignored.

Experts say that maids and nannies in Jakarta face many of the same issues of abuse as workers abroad – and they lack even basic legal protections.

Lita Anggraini, the chairwoman of the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT), says the situation for migrant and domestic workers is similar. "There are no clear rules, especially about working hours, health care, acceptable wages and even contracts between employers and workers," Lita said.

According to a report by the International Labor Organization, there were four million domestic helpers in the country in 2009, with 1.2 million of them working in Jakarta. The numbers are rapidly increasing.

Albert Bonasahat, national project coordinator for the ILO Jakarta Migrant Workers Project, says that domestic workers here should get more attention from the media and government alike. "Many people think the problem of a lack of rights only exists for migrant workers abroad," he said. "In reality, this is not the case."

Bonasahat said the absence of regulations regarding working hours and a minimum wage for local household staff spoke volumes about the ongoing problem. "In terms of legal protection, it is still very weak. The legislature has not finalized any laws for them," he said.

Lita said that domestic workers were vulnerable because lawmakers "largely represent employers, and not workers."

The definition of abuse also should be evaluated more carefully, Bonahasat said. Although cases of physical abuse may seem rare for domestic workers due to the lack of media attention, "excessive working hours and the absence of a minimum wage are also forms of abuse that occur on a daily basis," he said.

Abuse at home

Lita said it was hypocritical for the government to point fingers at violations of worker rights in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, when those countries can see the lack of protection for Indonesia's own domestic workers.

In the past four years, there have been 572 reported cases of abuse, Lita said, but she believes that there are many more cases that are not publicized. "Many workers are ashamed, especially when it comes to physical or sexual abuse," she said.

Rumina, the owner of employment agency Yayasan PRT Ibu Gito, deals with domestic workers as part of her job. Her agency, based in South Cipete in Jakarta, has a pool of temporary workers and caters to households in Greater Jakarta.

She agreed that the government should implement laws to protect the rights of domestic workers.

"There needs to be a clear standard regarding their wages. Right now, my agency has a minimum wage of at least Rp 600,000 [$70] per month for workers with no prior experience. But it's hard to hold employers to that standard when there's no law governing workers' rights," she said.

She added that although cases of physical abuse are rare, many of the workers in her agency complain about long working hours, a lack of adequate meals and no days off.

Dimes, a 30-year-old domestic worker, said that if there was a conflict between her and her employers, talking about her concerns would usually resolve the problem. But other times, she doesn't have many options.

"Sometimes I just have to live with it. This is my job simply because I'm not really good at anything else," she said. "It's the only way I can get money to provide for myself."

Rumina's agency offers some protection for workers and gets involved in potential cases of mistreatment. When her workers have a conflict that they cannot solve themselves, Rumina says that they can turn to her agency for assistance.

"Obviously we need to talk to their employers also to ensure that both sides are being heard. We want to make things clear," she said. "But there are some cases where we have talked to the employers to let them know the workers are under our protection." Back home

Supriatin, 26, is a former migrant worker who has worked in Penang, Malaysia. Like many others, she said that she came back for her family. "This is my home. I wanted to be closer to my parents, especially my mom," Supriatin said.

Although there were things she enjoyed about working in Malaysia, she says that she mostly feels sorry for those working overseas. "I feel bad for them because they have to leave their families. I feel bad that they have to leave their loved ones for so long, sometimes for six years at a time," she said.

Other workers do not even consider working abroad. "Even working here scares me," says Riyanti, a 15-year-old who has just started working. "Jakarta is already so different from where I'm from. So even if the wages are higher, I still don't want to go abroad. Hearing about abuse makes me more scared to go."

Dimes has worked in eight different households since she finished primary school 18 years ago. But she will not work abroad. "I've never thought of going abroad and I'm not interested. I just can't be that far away from home. I'm content here," she said.

The appeal of overseas work, of course, is higher wages and the opportunity to provide a better life for their families.

Ani, 29, wants to go overseas. Two years ago, she planned to go to Saudi Arabia, but her plan was derailed by illness. With the current ban on workers going to Saudi Arabia, Ani is now looking at Taiwan or Hong Kong.

"One of my friends came back from Taiwan and was successful," she said. "She really liked it there, and her husband, who was unemployed, was able to start his own business because they have money now. Their life is good now."

For now, domestic workers have yet to receive legal protection from the Indonesian government. One hopeful sign was that Indonesia voted in favor of a landmark ILO convention on the treatment of domestic workers in June.

That vote brought renewed calls for domestic legislation from groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Activists want the bill on the protection of domestic workers to be made an immediate priority. The bill calls for better working conditions for domestic workers, including a minimum of 12 days of annual paid leave and other privileges enjoyed by workers in the formal economy.

"The current paradigm is that lawmakers don't consider household workers as 'workers'," Bonasahat said. "They say they can't regulate the relationship between workers and employers because they are a part of the private household. The question is, would you treat your own family like that?"

The bill is being debated by House of Representatives Commission IX, which oversees welfare issues.