House 'ping-pongs' the Draft Law on Domestic Workers

The man was sitting, leaning back at the terrace of his house. Sipping a cup of coffee, he gazed up at the reddish twilight sky. His eyes looked empty. But his mind was jumping back into a period in the past. His lips were flaring up. He smiled. His fingers combed his hair back.

“I once argued with Nurul about this problem,” Poempida Hidayatullah, a former member of the House of Representatives during the 2009-2014 period, said.

His mind was still piecing together a series of arguments during a session of the Legislation Body that deliberated the Draft Law on the Protection of Domestic Workers on Wednesday, June 6, 2013. He argued with Nurul Arifin, his colleague in the same Golkar Party faction.

On a U-formed meeting table in the meeting room, Nurul sat next to Poempida. But it was from that corner that interruptions from one to another occurred. Although they came from one political party, their partialities were different. Poempida supported the draft law, but Nurul did not.

Nurul argued that the substances of the draft law could mess up the kinship system in the community. Her different opinion with Poempida was related to cultural issues. She viewed that the draft law was liberal. Instead of protecting domestic workers, she said, it would scatter the tradition.

"I hope that we can keep standing on our community’s values and tradition -- mutual cooperation, not liberal tradition that stresses on materialism,” Nurul said during the session.
Poempida quickly responded Nurul’s statement. "We have already made some exceptions. If they want to employ their relatives, go ahead. This regulation is specifically for domestic workers,” he countered back. “The problem is that there are ruthless employers. The law will accommodate the domestic workers’ rights,” he added.

The problem was not only about culture. Most of the Legislation Body’s members also questioned about salary. They did not agree if a domestic worker earned salary based on the regional minimum wage. At that time, Poempida talked again. His view was different. He had his own calculations.

In the decent living components (KHL), there were accommodation component, such as meals and a place to live. The Commission IX had calculated the cost. About their monthly earning, it would be the task of regional governments to determine the quantity, because regional minimum wages of each regency/mayoralty were different.

“Moreover, the domestic worker-version regional minimum wage was not similar to the one of the Law on Manpower,” Poempida said.

Their salary system had been included in the Draft Law on the Protection of Domestic Workers. Therefore, the House had to sharpen its study, not halt the deliberation. The Legislation Body’s members said there had been some worries that the market of domestic workers would decline because many ‘employers’ could not afford to pay their domestic workers’ salaries.

Another issue, according to the former member of the Commission IX, was capitalization. Poempida frowned. He did not know why the Legislation Body raised that question. When talking about capitalization, domestic worker providers had actually already sold them. It meant there had clearly been capitalization component.

Unfortunately, Poempida mostly fought for it alone. Only a few supported the draft law proposed by the Commission IX. His partner in the fighting, Rieke Diah Pitaloka (PDI-Perjuangan), could not help him because she was busy with the agenda of the West Java gubernatorial election.

After the session at the Legislation Body, there had never been any meetings related to the draft law. The deliberation was stalled. Poempida himself has already asked to the body’s Deputy Chairman Achmad Dimyati (PPP) about the progress of its deliberation. He answered that it had been returned to the Commission IX.

“I asked to the commission’s secretary, who was then Mrs. Iit. She said that it had been returned to the Legislation Body again,” said the Golkar politician. “Just try to imagine how the lawmakers themselves have been bounced back and forth like ping-pong ball,” he added, shaking his head.

Then Chairman of the Working Committee Irgan Choirul Mahfidz (PPP) was regarded of not fighting enough for the draft law, although principally, he supported the draft legislation to be immediately adopted. It was not clear why his enthusiasm faded away. Poempida did not know why Irgan was reluctant to deliberate the draft law again.

Meanwhile, Irgan himself said that he had sent its revision to the Commission IX, just like the answer given by the commission’s secretariat to Poempida. The Legislation Body itself, however, was not so active. They never summoned the commission’s working committee again to deliberate the revision.

"Then, the 2009-2014 term of office of the House ended,” Irgan said.

At the commission level, the whole deliberation was completed. All factions approved it. However, the members of the Legislation Body are not the lawmakers of the Commission IX. That is why their perspectives were different. They were still questioning the issues of local wisdom and payment system of domestic worker’s salary.

Lita Anggraini, chairwoman of the Coordinator of the National Advocacy Network for Domestic Workers (JALA PRT), also once felt like a 'ping pong ball' at the House. She remembered when raising a question to Irgan, who held position as the Commission IX chairman during the past period. “How is the deliberation of the domestic worker draft law, Sir?” Lita asked.

"Yeah, it has been at the Legislation Body. They hold the key now,” Irgan replied.

Lita felt strange. Recently, she met members of the Legislation Body to question the matter. But, they threw the deliberation of the draft law back to the Commission IX, saying there are several issues that need to be revised. But Irgan’s anwer wiped the hope out.

"They apparently do not want to be responsible,” he said.

Like before, Lita went home with empty hands. She was getting to be sure that the people’s representatives could not be count on. She really could not imagine why the draft law had not been completed, while those who had proposed the draft law could come back and forth to the House for three or four times.

It has been 11 years since the draft law’s deliberation was stalled. It began in 2004. Lita relied on Maria Ulfah Anshor (PKB), former member of the Commission IX, and Lukman Tuti Sutrisno (PAN) to pass the draft law in accordance to an official, legal regulation.
The efforts, however, were not fruitful. Most of the politicians in the commission were reluctant to respond her proposal. Moreover, JALA PRT had not had a big network, so the draft law stopped in the middle of the way. Fortunately, such a condition did not make her spirit went out.

Again, she questioned again during the 2009 – 2014 period. This time, JALA PRT relied the deliberation of the draft law on Commission IX member Rieke Diah Pitaloka (PDI-Perjuangan). But again, DPR did not fully approve it. In 2010, the draft law likely got attention.

"Finally, we held a protest, doing a hunger strike and staying at the House,” Lita said.
The protest was the last resort because her formal letter had never been responded. Ambushing them after a meeting only produced unserious responses. They rarely responded telephone communication. She frequently ‘bombarded’ them with text messages to express her resentment.

"They only listened to our aspiration after we took actions,” she added.

Thank to the efforts, the Commission IX started to deliberate the draft law as an initiative right of the House. The House’ members once conducted a research in 10 cities in 2011. The House began to make a study on the academic paper and draft regulation. A bright light started to shine for Lita and domestic workers.

Then in August 2012, the lawmakers conducted a feasibility study to South Africa and Argentina to get inputs for the Draft Law on the Protection of Domestic Workers in Indonesia. Finally, they held public testing in Makassar and Malang in March 2013.

“The deliberation, however, was stalled again until the House members changed,” she said.

She did not give up, however. In January 2015, Lita submitted again the draft law to the House members for the current 2014- 2019 period. This time, they received a positive response from Commission IX Chairman Dede Yusuf (Democrat Party). They promised to prioritize the draft law in 2015, particularly because Rieke Diah Pitaloka became a commission representative at the Legislation Body.

Earlier, there were some optimism because Rieke had been regarded to be very outspoken in voicing the draft law. But, again, it was stalled. Rieke only fought for it alone at the Legislation Body, just like Poempida in 2014.

In Februari 2015, the draft was neglected because the Legislation Body asked the Commission IX to propose national legislative programs of the previous term of office. “They even prioritize to revise the Draft Law on Industrial Relation Disputes,” Lita said. Whereas, the Commission IX itself did not propose the draft law to be included into this year’s national legislative programs.

Legislation Body Deputy Chairman Firman Subagyo (Golkar Party) admitted that the draft law has not been able to be included into the 2015 priorities, giving a reason that there has been no view from the domestic workers’ users (employers) whether they agree to the regulation or not. They have not expressed their aspiration.

Moreover, how about domestic workers from the family circles? The principle of kinship also needs to be deliberated in the draft law. This year, the Legislation Body has chosen the Draft Laws on Industrial Relation Disputes and the Protection of Overseas Workers. Both draft laws have been considered as more urgent than the one on domestic workers.

"If domestic workers here have standardized salaries, working hours etc., I think it’s still difficult,” Firman said.

This article is the second in-depth article on rights of domestic workers from a series of three in-depth articles by Andi Mohammad Ikhbal of Republika and published on 21 August 2015. The article is part of the ILO’s media fellowship programme on domestic workers and child domestic labour, jointly conducted in collaboration with the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Jakarta and eight selected leading, national mass media. The media fellowship programme was part of the campaign conducted by the ILO through its Promoting Decent Work for Domestic Workers to End Child Domestic Work (PROMOTE) Project. Funded by the United States Department of Labour (USDOL), PROMOTE Project aims at reducing child domestic workers significantly by building institutional capacities of partners to promote Decent Work for Domestic Workers (DWDW) effectively. The Project works to increase the knowledge, skills and expertise on reducing child domestic workers and promote DWDW.