on House Maids, Colonialism, and Conscience

One of our maids didn't go back after Lebaran. Well, she did go back about 2-3 weeks after Lebaran to pick up her clothes. But she received enough rants and reprimands from my mom that I'm sure she won't ever want to go back to work at our house at any cost.

It's probably for the best. She was a bit on the lazy side and she was being disrespectful to Bik Yah. Bik Yah is the true master of our house. Once, I was even thinking to create a spin-off from the popular TV show 'Suami-Suami Takut Istri' (Husbands Afraid of Wives). I would call it 'Majikan-Majikan Takut Pembantu' (Employers Afraid of Maids). The screenplay would be inspired from my experience at home the day before. Easy breezy money.

Bik Yah has been with our family for more than 10 years. She's never been married and both her parents have passed away. In a way, she thinks of us more as her family just as we treated her more than just our maid.

Bik Yah doesn't listen. We fight a losing battle on our mission to have her dishes less salty. Everytime, after eating her meals, we would tell her,

Oh my God, Bik Yah, it's too salty! Do you know that people could die from eating too much salt? Can you please make it less salty next time?

She would just reply lazily,

Oh, too salty? That's too bad.

That's all she does though. Come the next meal, it would be salty as usual and we would do the same routine again. Nothing ever changes. We often wonder why we even bother telling her. We will still say it nevertheless. It is us pretending that we have any say to things that enter our body.

Sometimes, we even assume that she's doing this for our health sake. You see, both my mom and I have low blood pressure, so Bik Yah is only being thoughtful when she adds that extra heap of salt when cooking. I know... the lies we say to ourselves.

We often get chastised by Bik Yah. She would lecture my mom from buying things that are too expensive from the grocery store. She'd also lecture me if I skip meals or not eating the food that she has made for me.

Sometimes, when she makes mistake and receives some lecture from my mom, I would involuntarily release such ugly and evil laugh of which I have no ability to stop. My mom would then stop lecturing, and both her and Bik Yah would look at me with the look of disbelief.

Mom: Dear God, is this really my child?
Bik Yah: Poor nonik (nickname for me), she seems a bit loopy. Maybe she needs more salt.

Bik Yah however, is very loyal to her friends. She would defend the other maids even if the reason my mom lecturing them is their rude and disobedience to Bik Yah. Such is the enigma of Bik Yah.

And so, we are looking another maid for a replacement of the foregone maid. Her main job is pretty much to assist Bik Yah doing the house chores and keep her company during the day. So, we made a phone call to the to-go-to person for this maid business. Last Sunday, he arrived with a guy and 2 children.

My mom and I were on our way out, so we both met them at our driveway. The guy brought forth the older child and introduced her to us:

Hi, this is my niece. She's 16 years old, no ... 14 years old. She doesn't go to school anymore, so I figure that it's better for her to help around here rather than sitting idle at home.

My jaw was probably dropped for a good 30 seconds or so before I remembered to close my mouth shut. Here, in front of me, was a kid that is way shorter than me, and peeps, I am short. She was carrying a backpack that covered her whole backside. She had a blank stare, completely oblivious of the whole situation. My mother would later call her as piyek (a chick, indicating her young age and her greenness). My estimation... she is no older than 10 years old, 12 years old would be stretching it.

While her uncle was trying to convince us to hire her and her little brother was making circles around us while giggling endlessly, my mind wandered...

Is this thing even legal?

If we employ her, will we be sued by the Komnas HAM (human rights committee) and Komnas Perlindungan Anak (children protection committee)? Will we replace Syekh Puji as the headline filler?

Can employing her be categorized as slavery and therefore put us with the likes of Dutch and Japanese during the colonialism era?

I can totally imagine Bik Yah afraid of telling her around and instead treating her like a queen, which will make her position higher than us, her employers. My mom will try to order her to water the garden and she would hurt her little fingers from pressing the tip of the hose, trying to increase the water pressure. Her uncle would come marching, together with Kak Seto (the head of Komnas Perlindungan Anak) and demand the best medication that money can have or else we will be on the newspaper headline the next morning.

Luckily, my mom told the uncle a straight no as the answer, noting her young age and her petite figure as not suitable for the tasks in our house.

As they left, I can't help but wonder where she will end up with that kind of uncle as her guardian. Will she be employed at other household or will she work at the street selling newspaper or worse, begging.

As I imagined worse and worse scenarios, I wonder if we should have employed her instead. She could help around a bit and she can go to school during the day just like kids around her age do. Sure, we will be further ignored by Bik Yah, but we're used to it by now.

But who am I kidding, taking care of another human being will be the last thing on my mom's agenda during this hectic moment in our family. And I know that this is just my impulse saying, further consideration would deem this idea as unrealistic and foolish thinking.

But there seems to be something wrong. Should I have done something? Can I do something? Do I want to do anything?

Conscience can be such a terrible thing to have.