Malaysia´s Illegal Indonesian Migrant Labour Problem: In Search of Solutions

Abstract

The long-term, undocumented migration flow of Indonesians into Malaysia is arguably the second largest flow of immigrants after the movements across the U.S.-Mexico border. The issue of the migration of Indonesian Labour to Malaysia has been a persistent source of friction in Malaysia-Indonesia relations for the past twenty years. The latest round of protests by Indonesian politicians, the media, and the public in response to harsh laws recently enacted by Kuala Lumpur against foreign workers threatened once again to plunge bilateral relations into another downward spiral of animosity and diplomatic sabre-rattling. Tensions have been exaggerated by the securitization of the Indonesian migrant problem by the Malaysian media and certain government officials. Given the vast number of Indonesian labourers in Malaysia and the crucial role they play in the Malaysian economy, unless the root causes of this problem are acknowledged and addressed coherently by both parties, the i ssue of Indonesian migrant labour will continue to be an obstacle to better bilateral ties. The regular recurrence of the problem of Indonesian labour migration into Malaysia and the elusiveness of viable solutions has opened the way for scholarly research to be undertaken to illuminate the fundamental issues involved that impede the search for solutions. Be that as it may, there remains a paucity of scholarship that attempts to study the social, political, economic, and diplomatic undertones to a problem that has emerged as one of the most enduring problems for contemporary Malaysia--Indonesia relations. Most studies that have been done on this subject have taken two forms. Some have devoted much effort at listing the social-economic problems arising from the influx of Indonesian labourers, and in particular economic migrants, into Malaysia. (1) Others have studied the geographical and demographical dimensions to this problem, focusing on the origins of these Indonesian illegals, the problems they encounter in making their way to, and finding employment in, Malaysia, and the exploit ation that they are forced to undergo as a result of their status. (2) Few have attempted to place the Indonesian migrant problem in the broader historical context of political trends in Malaysia--Indonesia relations, or to make recommendations on the crucial issues that need to be addressed in the search for solutions. (3) It is in this regard that this study considers the political undercurrents to the phenomenon of Indonesian labour in Malaysia. The article seeks to explore: (1) the evolution of the so-called illegal Indonesian migrant worker problem, (2) the various unilateral and bilateral attempts at finding a solution, (3) some possible considerations that should be taken into account in this search for solutions, and (4) the underlying problems which have impeded, and might continue to impede, progress towards a comprehensive resolution based on the interests of both states. Origins of Indonesian Migration into the Peninsula Migration from the Indonesian archipelago to the Malay peninsula has long been a feature of the interaction and exchange that defines the identity of the Indo-Malay World. Malay historical records such as Sejarah Melayu, Hikayat Hang Tuah, and Sejarah Melayu dan Bugis (otherwise known as Tuhfat al-Nafis) document the movement, via both trade and war, of peoples across the Indo-Malay archipelago and how cultures crossed as a consequence of this. In the more recent colonial past, British and Malay authorities in the peninsula also welcomed migrant workers from Indonesia to meet the manpower requirements of colonial economic enterprise. (4) Because of shared racial and to some extent cultural traits, Indonesian migrant workers were favoured by the Malay aristocracy and royalty in the nineteenth century as demographic buffers against the influx of Chinese and Indian labour that was occurring under colonial economic policy. …