Globalization, Social Justice, and Migration: Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers in Malaysia

Abstract

The number of Illegal Marriages (sirri) among Indonesian migrant workers abroad is quite fantastic. Illegal marriages raise many problems such as law issues: their marriages are not recognized by the state, children born without birth certificates and at risk of statelessness, have no access to education and health. Therefore, due to the extraordinary impact, especially for children, Indonesian Government makes an effort of marriage ithbat (legalization) for migrant workers who had conducted illegal (unregistered) marriage. The study provides an overview of the marriage ithbat implementation for migrant workers and observes the impacts. The research finds that the government still has to work hard to realize their duties and obligations in protecting the civil rights of migrant workers, because what they have done is still far from expectations. The complexity of the problems have become inextricably intertwined and coincide with each other, they are: the behavior and characteristics of migrant workers, the process of their arrival to Malaysia, the broker's treatment, the plantation owners' treatment, the Malaysian Government's attitude and service, and the attention of the Indonesian Government. Marriage ithbat program for migrant workers, which was intended only as a curative program, will fail and be an endless program if the most basic source of the problem is not prevented, namely the illegal entry of migrant workers to Malaysia.

Advocacy for women migrant workers in Malaysia through an intersectionality lens

“…Domestic work is not regarded as 'real' work and reinforces existing ideas that domestic work is a 'natural' task for women. These workers are employed under an abusive and highly exploitative system, and are denied social status, economic resources and political voice (Joseph, 2013). Domestic workers are often also identified as sexually promiscuous women, husband stealers and an extension of female employers, contributing to their abuse.…”