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Indonesia: Never-ending struggle, says Lita Anggraini

Indonesia: Never-ending struggle, says Lita Anggraini

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by IDWFED published Feb 16, 2010 12:00 AM
Contributors: Sri Wahyuni/The Jakarta Post
“I don’t consider this occupation as a job, but as a part of my life, and I will keep working at it even if there is no institution or organization employing me to do so,” Lita told The Jakarta Post in Yogyakarta early last week.

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Read the original article in full: Lita Anggraini: Never-ending struggle | The Jakarta Post

Photo: Sri Wahyuni/The Jakarta Post
Lita Anggraini never imagined she would become a female activist fighting for the rights of domestic workers.

But here she is now at age 41, coordinating the National Network for Domestic Worker Advocacy (Jala PRT), and advocating for the rights of PRTs, the popular abbreviation for domestic workers.

Her work consists in ensuring domestic workers are aware of their rights, and are acknowledged as well as legally protected as workers.

“I don’t consider this occupation as a job, but as a part of my life, and I will keep working at it even if there is no institution or organization employing me to do so,” Lita told The Jakarta Post in Yogyakarta early last week.

Lita was in the city for a series of meetings with activists from Rumpun Tjoet Njak Dien (RTND), an NGO focusing on PRT rights, which she once chaired and helped established in 1995 in Yogyakarta.

She came to Jakarta in 2008 to help run Jala PRT, an umbrella organization for 35 similar-minded groups across the country established in 2004.

Her agenda? Changing the public’s mindset about domestic workers, and making sure the rights of PRTs, both as citizens and workers, are recognized and protected.

Most domestic workers in Indonesia — the country with reportedly the largest number of PRT employed worldwide — are women from rural areas who have very little education.

Domestic workers have consequently been marginalized, as they are often looked down on as second-class citizens. They are also prone to physical, social and sexual abuse.

But Lita retorts that domestic workers perform tasks that are as dignified as other jobs in the formal sector. PRTs play a crucial role in the society, enabling other individuals to develop themselves and carry out their jobs.

“That’s why we prefer to use PRT as the abbreviation for domestic workers [pekerja rumah tangga] and not of domestic helpers [pembantu rumah tangga],” Lita said.

To help empower PRTs, Lita set up a PRT school at RTND’s headquarters in Yogyakarta in 2003 to provide three-month-long courses.

Participants are trained not only become professional PRTs but also citizens who understand their rights as workers and can fend for themselves in time of trouble.

By setting up a school, she said, she wanted to show the public that domestic work also required skills. At the same time, she is helping PRT’s realize that with each task well performed will come a sense of satisfaction and a feeling of respect.

While joining the course, participants are also advised to form their own organizations to increase their bargaining power, fight for their rights, reasonable wages and working hours, as well as be treated like workers, not slaves.

To achieve these objectives, with the help of organizations she either chairs or joins, Lita campaigns for the rights of PRTs through various media.

“Many have now acknowledged PRTs as workers, not helpers,” she said.

Sections of the public have also recognized the need for PRTs to be protected by law. In 2005, Jala PRT prepared a draft bill concerning the protection of PRTs and proposed it to the House of Representatives for deliberation.

It was once included in the House’s 2004-2009 list of national legislation programs (Prolegnas) but was never been discussed. Only this year did it finally become a priority for the 2010 Prolegnas.

“Thanks to all your prayers and support, the House’s Commission IX [which oversees the issue] has decided last night that of the two bills they had to deliberate this year, one would be the bill on PRT protection,” said Lita in a text message sent to The Post on Friday.

She said if everything ran as expected, the House would probably approve the bill in three years time.

Promising developments, according to Lita, have also been seen at the international level with the International Labor Organization (ILO) discussing legal instruments to protect PRTs either in the form of a convention or recommendations.

“We consider 2010 as an important year for this struggle. We have to focus our energy on making sure the bill is approved at the national level and that a convention on protecting PRTs is established at the international level,” Lita said.

She hoped the Asian Domestic Worker Network and the International Domestic Worker Network, co-established by RTND in 2005 and 2006, would encourage people to respect the work of PRTs.

“This is a never-ending movement for me that needs the supports from all stakeholders. I want to make people understand that this is our problem, given the majority of [Indonesian] families employ PRTs,” Lita said.

Lita, also an alumnus of the International Relations Department of Gadjah Mada University’s School of Social and Political Sciences, is planning to establish a domestic work institute to help speed up the struggle for domestic workers’ rights.

“It’s an institute for everyone who wants to know more about domestic workers, to foster in them a sense of pride in their job,” said Lita, hoping the institute would take off either in Jakarta, Semarang or Yogyakarta in two years time.

Source: Sri Wahyuni/The Jakarta Post

Story Type: Story

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