Part 1

• Exploring the Present Situation and Issues in Indonesian Labor Deployment: Emphasizing the Shift towards Japan’s Specific Skills Training Program Andi Holik Ramdani Hashimoto Foundation

  The Technical Intern Training Program (Ginojisshuu) in Japan has faced criticism due to its inadequate protection of labor rights, leading to an unfavorable work environment and prompting protests from activists who liken it to ‘modern-day slavery’. Japan is now aiming to reform the program and integrate it with the Specified Skills Worker Program (Tokuteigino), with formal legislation expected in 2024.

  However, the introduction of Japan’s Specified Skills Worker Program in 2019, aimed at selecting skilled workers and extending their stay, sparked significant discussions in Indonesia. This was especially true among stakeholders involved in technical intern training, who expressed concerns about potential abolition or modification.

  As Japan’s reliance on labor from Indonesia grows in comparison to China and Vietnam, and with Japan’s declining population impacting the availability of the working-age population, this research not only investigates the preparation and deployment of Indonesian workers in Japan but also considers the perspectives of Indonesian stakeholders managing technical intern trainees. The focus is on assessing their readiness for the forthcoming system transition.

  Stakeholders involved in this research investigation include the Indonesian Consortium of Sending Institutions (AP2LN) and the Ministry of Manpower’s Directorate General of Training and Productivity Improvement (BINALAVOTAS) for technical intern trainees, as well as the Department of Worker Placement and Employment Opportunities Expansion (BINAPENTA PKK) and the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) for the Specified Skills Program.

  This paper aims to enhance understanding of how agencies and government bodies in Southeast Asian sending countries are preparing for the new Japanese immigrant labor system.

• Migrant Workers, Political Legitimacy, and Patterns of Cooperation and Conflict Between Indonesia and Malaysia Amy Freedman Pace University Ann Marie Murph Seton Hall University

  There should be a confluence of interests between sending and receiving countries when it comes to migrant workers. Sending countries like Indonesia have surplus labor and receiving countries like Malaysia have a need for labor, so both should benefit from a system where workers can move to secure employment. Instead, the issue of migrant workers has become politically fraught in Indonesia and Malaysia, complicating efforts to manage labor migration effectively to capture mutual benefits. Through a careful examination of the experience of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, we have found that for both countries the migrant worker issue has become entangled with larger issues of regime legitimacy. Leaders need to shore up domestic support and use politically charged issues connected to race, ethnicity and religion and migration in ways that score political points, even if those policies make less sense in an economically rational way. This paper explores how the entanglement of migration and legitimacy in Indonesia and Malaysia complicate bilateral migration governance.

• Expectation management & integration challenges – Indonesian nurses in Germany Alexander Loch Hochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung & Finanzen

  In July 2021, the Indonesian Overseas Workers Protection Board (BP2MI) reached a placement agreement with the German Federal Employment Agency (BA), as a result of which qualified Indonesian nurses with proven German language skills can work in German clinics and retirement homes. Two years later, by late 2023, a total of 84 Indonesian nurses had arrived in Germany – while 870 of their colleagues opted to live and work in Japan during the same period. This raises questions about expectation management, cross cultural challenges and the effectiveness of programs such as „triple-win“ or „make-it-in-germany.com“.

  Paradoxically, on the one hand, the intention is for skilled workers to transfer “social remittances” to their countries of origin; on the other hand, all those involved realize that the shortage of skilled workers caused by demographic change is not a short-term phenomenon and that migrants are best integrated into Germany in the longer term.

  In a collaborative research project funded by the BW Foundation, researchers from HVF (Ludwigsburg) and Universitas Indonesia (Jakarta) are conducting an interdisciplinary long-term study to investigate the entire migration cycle – from the psychogenesis of the decision to migration to acculturation, integration and eventually return. While obvious cultural differences can be easily bridged, questions of recognizing previous skills and the length of one’s own work experience in Indonesia before leaving the country are decisive factors for wellbeing abroad.

Part 2

• Return, Reintegration, and Local Development – Indonesian Migrant Workers in Three Regions Retno Widyastuti BIGS OAS, Bonn University

  Returning home is becoming an integral part of Indonesian migrant workers’ lives. Their journey continues after their return, and they may encounter many challenges, particularly in establishing a sustainable return and reintegration through achieving economic self-sufficiency, social stability, and mental well-being.
  This study aims to investigate how returned migrant workers may achieve sustainable reintegration through empowerment and reintegration assistance, particularly through the implementation of Migrant Care Villages (Desbumi) and Productive Migrant Villages (Desmigratif). This research employs a qualitative approach and collects empirical data from three regions: Wonosobo, Jember, and Central Lombok. The data is gathered through interviews, observations, focus group discussions, and related publications.
  The findings illustrate that migrant workers demonstrate various motivations and situations that drive their decision to return to their native village. These factors generally encompass the termination of their job contract and individual circumstances. The reintegration support provided by Desbumi and Desmigratif Program to returned migrant workers in Indonesia should be restructured to incorporate a comprehensive approach encompassing several levels (individual, community, and structural) and considering economic, social, and psychosocial factors to foster long-term and sustainable reintegration. It was essential for the relevant multi-stakeholders to collaborate to empower the returnees, facilitate their sustainable reintegration, and offer them various choices and possibilities to contribute to local development actively.

• Minangkabau Female Migrants in Malaysia: A Narrative Study Jendrius Jendrius Universitas Andalas Mulyanti Syas

  Minangkabau society are known as the largest matrilineal society in the world and devout Muslims. They have a voluntary and circular migration practice which called “merantau” (mean to emigrate). Previously, merantau were practiced by young they leave their hometown and go to other places around Indonesia or abroad. Their main purposes in migrating are pursuing their study, get a job, or running the entrepreneurial activities. Then, periodically, they come back to their hometown, they will marriage with a woman who choice by their family and then back to “rantau” with their wife. According to the passage of time, there has been a change in the migration patterns of Minangkabau peoples. In the past, women just migrated to follow their husband, but at the present moment many Minangkabau women initiate to migrate to some areas in Indonesia including Malaysia.
  This paper focuses on the experience of Minangkabau women who migrated to Malaysia. By using narrative methods, try to understand and explore the real experiences of Minangkabau female migrants, including their migration process, work and living conditions, relationship with their family and kin, and their opinions about themselves and future life.
  It is difficult to know the exact number of Minangkabau female migrants in Malay peninsula. Approximately, their number almost hit thousands of peoples. But generally, there are three types of Minangkabau female migrants: “traditional migrants”, “factory daughters”, and “eksekutif muda”, namely. The “traditional migrants” are those who come to Malaysia using the traditional ways, come as a tourist, then apply for a working permit. They work in the informal sectors, and carried out by the married women who aged between 30 – 55 years old and many of them face immigration problems.
  The “factory daughters” are those who work as manufacturing workers. They come to Malaysia using employment agency for temporary worker, normally for 2 – 4 years. They are between 20 – 40 years old, unmarried and have a secondary educational level. They live in worker dormitories, and work for 12 hours a day, 4 days a week, also limited access to outside world. Generally, they have not a significant problem. Meanwhile, the “eksekutif muda” are those who well-educated women, fresh graduate from reputable universities in Indonesia, aged 23 – 30 years old, single, fluent in English and working for multinational companies in Kuala Lumpur. They experiencing comfortable life with some sufficient salary as a single woman.
  All women and groups have their dynamics and problems. But all of them have same views and principles, they work and stay in Malaysia for a short time to get experience, and money and will go back to Indonesia for a good life.

• Migrants’ Voices Matter: Indonesian Migrant Women’s [labor] Activism in the Host Countries as Depicted in Their Creative Writings Eni Nur Aeni Universitas Jenderal Soedirman Tri Murniati Universitas Jenderal Soedirman

  Migrant [labor] activism does not happen in a vacuum. As migrants living their transient lives in the host countries, they are exposed to the new life in the host countries and have to deal with everyday challenges. These challenges, we argue, have cultivated what so-called migrant awareness. This particular awareness leads migrants to actively participate in expressing their voices, migrants’ voices such as engaging themselves in activism. Their participation in migrant organizations and expressing their concerns exemplifies the impact of migration towards migrants both their personal and communal development. This situation is well depicted in the narratives produced by the Indonesian migrant women who work as domestic workers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Reading their migrant narratives under the lens of Häkli’s and Kallio’s political ordinary, we explore the experiences of the Indonesian migrant women who participate in migrant organization and/or communities, immersing themselves in migrant’s [labor] activism. Their mundane experiences play a part in shaping their migrant subjectivity and fostering migrant sisterhood which drives them to contribute to their community by helping fellow migrant workers. These women’s [labor] activism which might have impacts on migrant policies both in the host and home countries, to some extent, highlights the important gains from migration to migrants themselves and their fellow migrants, as well as for countries of origin and destination.

Abstract