BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi Nick

A human rights group has just released a report suggesting that most maids in Indonesia are basically just slaves. What do you think about this? Do you have any maids? My mates back home can’t believe it when I tell them I have two maids where I live, in Jakarta. They are like really jealous and amazed at the same time.

Maids or pembantu's are common over here as you know and I don't regard them as slaves. They have a job like everyone else.

Indonesian and Filipino maids often get abused overseas, killed even by their employers and there have been numerous court cases in Malaysia and Hong Kong involving employers who killed their maid, or vice versa.

As far as Indonesia is concerned, a local employer will always be toguher on staff than a westerner. I let my pembantu get on with it and am pleasant. Inodonesians expect their pembantu to clean the clothes scrub the floor, do the dishes, everything for 8 hours a day.

In Malaysia, as you know, all Indonesian maids are lived-in maids.. So most, literally work around the clock.. From the time they wake up till they sleep. Some has gone to the extend of sharing maid. Meaning, 1 maid for 2 household. Some are hired to help them run their business, which could be good and bad.. Cause they expect you to help out during business hours, and then come back and do house work till everyone goes to sleep. Most are just substitute mother.. Babysitting the babies and kids.. And you know how crazy it can get.. The kids, the house chores, the everything...

Well - I wouldn't want a maid acting as a substitute mother to my kid. That's really dumb.

http://indcoup.blogspot.com/

If you employ a maid, you know if you are a slave driver or not.

I'd say that if I had a maid, that she would work enough so that she could have a life and family outside of work. Also the compensation should be enough to live on. For instance, the old stories of the rickshaw puller that rented the rickshaw and then made only enough to pay for the rickshaw plus one bowl of gruel...that's a slave. So, there's something to consider.

Also, there might be no health plan, but I want my maid to feel comfortable if her family needed something above and beyond to ask. I'll likely have maids in the Philippines, so I've put some thought in to this.

There are lots of people to help out there, so for instance if the person I was used to working with had put in a full day, or week, and I needed some laundry done, I know of this other person that I can bag it up and give it to. They always need the extra cash.

The bottom line is- you are the one who knows what's going on. I'm horrified that there are instances where Philippinas are killed in Hong Kong. I don't even want to know about it. I hope that people go to prison.

cyprus: zillions of flip women working there for uppermiddle class families. how they got there? i've always wondered.

mexico (city): teeny-tiny room on the roof (my friend used it as a computer room for studying) usually houses the maid whose whole world is up there. works her arse off, sends money back to family back in the country side.

usa: au pair programs (talk about enslavement of innocent and unkowing victims. hey , i feel a new thread coming on.

zopa

We used to have a maid and I think jedimasterbooboo hit the nail on the head, it really comes down to the individual employing the maid. Over time she really just became another member of the family, and if any of us kids did something stupid or asked her to do something unreasonable, she would make sure we knew it.
That said, the system is definitly open to exploitation by unscrupulous individuals. Maids really are in vulnerable positions, and unfortunately some people dont realise how vulnerable they are. As to whether they are slaves or not, I believe that in the current job climate in Indonesia, I think alot of women think that they could do alot worse than being a maid.
I lived in the highlands of West Papua and we had an Papuan maid, whose daughter also lived with us. Nearly every western family in the village had a live-in maid and from my perspective it seemed that these maids were in a better situation than their non-employed peers, as they had shelter, meals and a stable income for both themselves and their children (and often their husband as well).
While it may seem like slavery to us over-indulged westerners (and perhaps it is..) it seems to me to be better than the alternative....
Concerning the horror stories of maids being murdered, this reflects the notion that treatment of the maid is greatly dependant upon the individual employing the maid. Maids are in such a vulnerable position and in some situations it would be very difficult for them to seek help to escape from a potentially harmful circumstance. It is a disgusting thing to talk about and I hate to think about it but unfortunately it does happen.

Then there are the stories of the malaysian Wives. I knew a Straits Chinese family fairly well, and she told me a few eye openers concerning Indonesian servants.

Its considered a bad idea to hire an Indonesian if you can get a Malaysian, at least as far as the wife is concerned. They're used as sex objects by a lot of husbands, and there are stories of them enchanting the husbands. Well, I don't know about the magic aspect, but it is believed by a pretty rational and intelligent woman.

The least one can make of it is that they like to seduce the men in exchange for favors, and can ruin marriages.

If you worked like a slave for 8 to 12 hours a day, I suppose you'd go all the way and see if you can net some goodies from the husband. Considering their rate of pay in Malaysia, one gift from a man could equal a weeks wages once again!!! Its certainly no worse than what some Indonesian women do more openly with foriegn men, and get little social stigma for it.

I know. I was set up with a woman on lake Batak, but didn't bite, so to speak. She told me I had beautiful eyes after 10 minutes, so I'll let you all make out what that meant.

I hope you all like this this little folklore tidbit.

Its all relative. Westerners often get all bent out of shape because things aren't the same as back home and what we wouldn't put up with, locals accept. My pembantu earns $40 a month and works 6 days a week. She seems happy and if she stays with the program she'll get a pay rise.

I remember coming to Bali I was slightly anti-Nike after all the publicity about them abusing Indonesian workers. It seems awful to us that a company can pay someone $2-$3 a day and then sell a pair of high tops for $150. But after I lived here for a while I realized Hey! for someone living in Java $2-$3 a day means 600,000rp-900,000rp per month. That guy is doing well in comparison with others living in the same economy.

No matter what your job or position, you can still conduct yourself in a way that shows respect for other people.

Many people in supposed developed countries can be slaves to lifestyle, wealth and self improvement. It all depends on what is acceptable in your society.
My motto is "remember to do unto others as you would like to be treated".

Michael