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A group of maids and activists has vowed to camp out in front of the legislative building in Jakarta until lawmakers make the domestic workers protection bill a priority for next year.

Going a step further, the chairwoman of the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT), Lita Anggraini, chained herself to the House gate on Monday, releasing herself only for toilet breaks.

“The House has formed a special committee for the domestic workers protection bill. And it was in the 2010 and 2011 Prolegnas [National Legislation Program], but now it’s gone. It’s not listed in the 2012 Prolegnas,” Lita told the Jakarta Globe.

She said many domestic helpers were crying out for protection. “We will not move until we see the bill on the list,” she said.

The chairman of House Legislative Body, Ignatius Mulyono, said the bill wasn’t included among the priority legislation for next year because House Commission IX, which oversees manpower and health, had to focus on two other bills. Those are a revision of the 2004 Law on Migrant Workers Placement and Protection and a nursing bill.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Rieke Diah Pitaloka, a vocal member of Commission IX, said the commission sent a letter to the Legislative Body saying it would work on the two bills Ignatius mentioned, plus bills on domestic workers protection and mental health.

“We urge the House to list the bill in the 2012 Prolegnas,” Rieke said. “It’s clear that the Constitution mandates that every citizen is entitled to a job and decent life.”

Rieke said that based on data she had compiled, there are around 10.7 million maids in the country, more than the 6 million migrant workers abroad.

She said it was important to have a law that would protect maids, who are ofent minors recently graduated from elementary or junior high school.

A Jala PRT study in 10 cities showed that maids suffered from bad treatment, low salaries, lack of days off and overwork, usually being required to work more than 16 hours a day.

But only a few maids, Rieke said, were brave enough to come forward and tell their stories, like Yeti from Serpong, Tangerang, who was held against her will for five days by her employer.

Or Teti Komala, from Cianjur, West Java, who died from the beatings she received from her employer.

“How can we urge other countries to protect our migrant workers if we cannot protect our own domestic helpers in the country?” Rieke said.

That is why, she said, it is important for everyone to urge the House to deliberate the bill on domestic workers protection. “I will ask members of the House to support this bill,” she said.

But Ignatius remained adamant, saying Commission IX would only work on two bills. “They must focus, because this year, they finished zero bills. The BPJS [social security law] was not just the work of Commission IX, because it was a special committee. So next year they should focus on those two bills.”

Rieke said she was worried the government wanted to revise 2003 Labor Law to make it easier for companies to fire their workers and offer less severance pay.