T

he Lebaran blues might plague more than a million families in Jakarta, when their housemaids return home for the Idul Fitri holidays — which will also see a sharp increase in household expenditures, an activist says.

“According to our survey of 10 upper class families in South Jakarta and Tangerang, their expenses will increase two to four times when their housemaids are absent,” National Committee for Housemaid Advocacy (Jala PRT) coordinator Lita Anggraeni told a press conference Wednesday.

The survey said a family’s average daily household expenditures were Rp 67,000 (US$7.43) with a housemaid — and from Rp 175,000 to Rp 241,000 without a domestic helper.

The figure was based on the average amount expended on a domestic helper’s monthly salary (Rp 500,000) and meals (Rp 1,500,000), and extra detergent (Rp 30,000), as well.

In the absence of domestic helpers, families spend an average of Rp 750,000 for laundry, Rp 3-4.5 million for catering and Rp 1.5-2 million for child care per month.

Yulianti Muthmainnah, a mother of a 17-month-old baby, told The Jakarta Post of the troubles she would face during Idul Fitri next month.

“It will be very difficult for me to take care of my child without help from my housemaid since my husband and I have to work,” she said.

She said she could not afford to hire a temporary domestic helper as it would cost Rp 100,000 a day. Besides, she would never leave her child in the care of a stranger, she added.

It is common for upper class families in Jakarta and other cities to employ domestic helper. Rich families might even have two or three, in addition to nannies.

Quoting data from the International Labor Organization and the 2009 National Socio-Economic Survey, Lita said that Jakarta had 1.2 million domestic helpers, making it the city with the largest number of housemaids in the country, which had a total of 4 million housemaids.

“The city lost 40 percent of its productivity during the absence of its domestic helpers. Therefore we have to respect housemaids as a proper profession,” she said.

She said that domestic helpers deserve proper Idul Fitri bonuses. “I suggest that employers give at least a bonus of one month’s salary to their housemaids, just like formal workers.”

Lita urged the House of Representatives to pass the bill on domestic workers to give them legal protection.

“Considering the significant role of domestic helpers, I think it is necessary for us to declare this job as a profession with legal guarantees for both workers and their bosses,” she said, adding that there should be salary standards and social guarantees.

She said she lamented that legislators had not made passage of the bill a priority.

“During the House of Representatives’ Commission IX meeting on June 2 to discuss the issue, many members did not attend and decided to exclude the deliberation of the bill from the 2010 agenda,” Lita said.

She said that housemaids were often abused financially, physically, sexually due to a lack of legal protection.

According to Jala PRT, there were 472 cases of violence directed at housemaids in Indonesia from 2004 -2009, and such cases were generally under-reported.

“They were harassed, insulted and treated inhumanely. Others worked in unsafe places, which put their lives at risk,” Lita said. (not)