Diaspora Strategy and Poverty Alleviation in East Java Indonesia

Abstract

The paper aims to contribute to the scholarly interest in the diaspora strategy to interrogate the assumption underlying the Migration-as-Development (MAD) discourse. Then the specific research question is about the possibility of the poor seizes the opportunity to work as migrant worker. Before offering tentative assumption for diaspora theory, the paper explores the premise of diaspora theory and the context of diaspora implementation in Indonesia, which also constitutes policy review and stakeholder analysis. The policy review offers supporting evident of the unfinished agenda of diaspora policy. The stakeholder analysis indicates that the diaspora strategy has been hampered by conflict of interest among the local government, migrant worker organizations and the recruitment agencies. A series of stakeholders meeting during local development planning has offered contrasting conceptualizations to the idea of MAD. The advocacies also raised competition among the local nongovernment organizations for funding, while the migrant workers still struggle to deal with huge risk of migration and rely on their family to manage the remittances.Turning to the challenging issue of diaspora assumption, this paper indicates that initiative to go abroad is almost impossible for the poor if he or she notices a high possibility for the employer to cheat those who work in domestic jobs, like nanny, driver, or baby sitter. Unless protection from both house and home countries is available, the diaspora strategy is not a better option for the migrant-work applicant. Then the tentative hypothesis about the assumption of diaspora strategy comes to perfect-competition market, which calls for perfect information, fair competition, and perfect structural industry. Otherwise, the strong government intervention needs overcome the market failure.