Nyonya Majikan Summary

In “Nyonya Majikan” (Madame Employer), Sorrita illustrates a brief dispute between an IDW and her female employer. The employer accuses her maid of not managing the shopping money well. Kuntari, the maid, argues that she has used her own money when shopping for her employer over the past two years because her employer did not give her enough. Kuntari’s employer would not believe her excuse and decided to do the shopping herself. Kuntari gladly accepts her employer’s decision and feels relieved even though her employer refused to pay back the money spent during the past two years. Not long after the incident, her employer realizes that the money she usually gave to Kuntari is not enough for the whole week. “Shamelessly, her employer gave Kuntari 50 HKD to buy chicken and noodles. Kuntari took the money quietly and started to count. ‘It’s not even the third day yet, ma’am has spent 350 HKD. She usually gave me 200 HKD for three days’” (Sorrita 83-4). Here, readers can see how IDWs stand up for themselves and refuse to take the blame for something they did not do. The power differential between the migrant workers and their employers has indeed positioned the employees—the migrant workers—as subordinates, and most of the time IDWs have to be willing to accept any

When the protagonist narrates “the thing was, Tasya had to be accept any condition because they were the one who paid her,” it reflects that as employee, Tasya tend to be passive to accept any situation. If the employees are not really aware of their duties and rights as included in the work contract, the tendency of foreign domestic helper to be abused is relatively high. In real life cases, foreign domestic workers from Indonesia tend to tolerate employers’ ill conduct because IDWs have to finish paying the fee taken from their first 7 months’ salary. Iin’s story illustrates this particular problem. Susanti recalls her story as