DREAMSEEKERS: Indonesian Women as Domestic Workers in Asia
By Dewi Anggraeni

When the women come to recruitment agencies to work as domestic helpers overseas, they begin building the foundation of their dreams of a better future. During their training following the recruitment, their dreams assume colours and shapes. They leave their homeland with high hopes and aspirations.

Arriving at their destinations, the workers quickly realize that no amount of training can prepare them for the shock of the cold, foreign world which confronts them. Those who are placed with considerate employers have generally happy working lives. Those who are placed with employers who expect ready-to-use service from their domestic helpers have a long and rocky road to navigate. With very little bargaining power and negotiating skills, as well as social prejudice from many parts of the community, these women's dreams can easily turn into nightmares.

In Dreamseekers: Indonesian Women as Domestic Workers in Asia, veteran journalist Dewi Anggraeni uncovers the hidden world of domestic helpers from all points of view: the employers, the agents, the governments, the NGOs, and most importantly the workers themselves. This first-hand account of the struggles and successes of these women is described in vivid detail, and Dreamseekers is a must-read by anyone interested in the plight of these remarkable women.

About the author
Dewi Anggraeni, a native of Jakarta, is a journalist and novelist now residing in Melbourne. She is the Australia correspondent for Tempo and regular contributor to the Jakarta Post. Her works have been published in Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the USA, the UK, and Malaysia. Dewi has also published seven books, the latest being Who Did This to our Bali and a novel, Snake, (2003, Indra Publishing). She has also contributed to various anthologies and collections of essays including "Journey to my Cultural Home", in Weaving a Double Cloth (2002, Pandanus Books).

Dewi Anggraeni: Dreamseekers
By Gavin W. Jones

This is a useful book about Indonesian domestic workers in three countries: Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Written by a journalist and novelist and funded by the International Labour Organization, it presents vivid case studies to illustrate the range of circumstances in which Indonesian domestic workers fi nd themselves.
It allows the different actors in the process to tell their stories: not only domestic workers and their employers, but also the Indonesian labour recruiting companies (Perusahaan Jasa Tenaga Kerja Indonesia, or PJTKIs), embassy staff responsible for domestic worker issues, NGOs, and a lawyer who has defended many Indonesian domestic workers in court for committing serious crimes. An Indonesian ambassador, a fi rst secretary and a consul general were among those who gave detailed interviews. The reader gains a more nuanced and complex picture as a result of the varied sources.

For those with a reasonable familiarity with the domestic worker scene in these three countries, the fi ndings will not be new: the forces driving Indonesian women to try their luck as overseas domestic workers; the fact that domestic workers from the Philippines are better supported by their government and by NGOs than those from Indonesia; the shortage of designated staff and facilities in Indonesian embassies to deal adequately with the many and complex issues that arise; and the quasi-institutionalised system of predation at Jakarta’s Cengkareng airport, where only the smartest, most experienced and most tough-minded returning
domestic workers can expect to emerge with their full savings intact.

The author could be criticised for including a considerable number of highprofi le cases of abuse of domestic workers by their employers and of crimes committed by domestic workers that have received much publicity in the media. Although she does balance them with more mundane cases where the domestic worker enjoys better conditions than in Indonesia, and both worker and employer are satisfi ed, the shock value of the extreme cases imprints itself more on the reader’s memory. On the other hand, these cases were important politically and probably contributed to the introduction of some much-needed reforms.

For those interested in gaining a thorough understanding of the policy issues arising from the fl ow of Indonesian domestic workers abroad, this book needs to be read in conjunction with other works, notably the book edited by Shirlena Huang and others, Asian Women as Transnational Domestic Workers (Marshall Cavendish Academic, 2005), especially the chapter on Indonesia by Graeme Hugo. Unfortunately, that book, and a number of other useful sources, are omitted from the brief list of further readings at the end of this volume.

Taken from Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies