Anita Rachman – Tired of waiting, dozens of domestic workers and activists ambushed the office of the House of Representatives' Legislative Body on Wednesday to demand the domestic workers protection bill be made a priority next year.
Their efforts appeared to yield a result, with House Legislation Body chairman Ignatius Mulyono fulfilling part of their request.
A final decision, however, on whether the bill will be formally included in the 2012 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) will be made today after the body meets with the government.
"We will monitor them, to make sure they put the bill in the 2012 Prolegnas," said Lita Anggraini, chairwoman of the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT).
Lita, who had chained herself to the House's gate since Monday, was among the activists who went into a room in the House building ahead of a scheduled meeting there by lawmakers to finalize the 2012 Prolegnas.
"We sent three letters telling them we wanted to meet but received no good response. So this is all we can do," Lita said.
The group had been camping out in front of the House gate since Monday to demand that the Domestic Workers Protection bill be put in the 2012 Prolegnas and also that the revision of the 2003 Labor Law, which they worried would make it easier for companies to fire workers and offer less severance pay, be scrapped.
A Jala PRT study in 10 cities showed that maids suffered from bad treatment, low pay, few days off and general overwork, often being required to work more than 16 hours a day. There are an estimated 10.7 million maids in the country.
Ignatius told the workers it would be difficult to list the bill in the 2012 Prolegnas because House Commission IX, which oversees manpower and health, had decided to focus on revising a 2004 Law on Migrant Workers Placement and Protection and a nursing bill.
At first, he argued that Commission IX, which in the past year had only worked on one bill, would not be able to handle more than two bills next year. Thus, Ignatius said, there was a danger of setting too ambitious a target.
"But, well, the House Legislation Body agreed to put it [Domestic Workers Protection Bill] in the list," Ignatius said. "But it's not yet final, however, because we should wait to hear the government's opinion on this. Tomorrow is the final decision before we bring it to the House plenary."
Rieke Diah Pitaloka, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker and a vocal member of Commission IX, said she would continue to fight for the domestic workers protection bill and do everything she could to ensure that it stayed on the 2012 agenda.
"We will also pressure the government to abandon its idea to amend the 2003 Labor Law," she added.