The management of Indonesian migrant workers abroad has been a fraught issue in social and economic policy for several decades. More than any other field of labour policy, it pits the public and private interests of the government and its bureaucracy, together with business at home and abroad, against labour activists and NGOs. While the government lauds gains in jobs and foreign exchange, the activists and NGOs point to manifest examples of cheating rules and exploiting Indonesian workers, both pre-departure and, later, overseas. Here, Wayne Palmer, on the basis of his PhD thesis, undertakes a careful and interesting examination of attempts at reform in this area during a period of significant social and political change in Indonesia—after the passing of the country’s first law on international migration, in 2004. This was also when President Yudhoyono flagged, and then officially established in 2007, an independent body to administer overseas migration policy, modelled on the successful Philippines Overseas Employment Agency.
Given these changes and the main themes of Palmer’s book, a suitable subtitle might well have been ‘Why has legal and bureaucratic reform not made much difference to Indonesian migrant workers?’. The book grapples with the tensions between legal and institutional reform and conflicting bureaucratic interests, at a time of decentralisation and major political realignments. A major theme of the book deals with conflict over spheres of influence, leading, ultimately, by 2010 to something of a stalemate and a compromise between the Ministry of Manpower and the new migration body—the National Body for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI). Palmer describes in some detail the first attempts by BNP2TKI to carve out a clear area of responsibility consistent with the new national migration law and presidential decree; he then turns to the spirited and partially successful pushback by the Ministry of Manpower, despite dubious legal grounds for its actions, and uncertain political support in Jakarta.
The book then traces how this conflict at the centre is manifested very differently in selected regions, both close to the centre of power (mainly DKI Jakarta, but also Semarang and Surabaya) and further in the ‘periphery’: in North Sumatra, Nunukan Island (North Kalimantan), and the Riau Islands. The third part of the analysis deals with the implementation of migration policy in three major destinations—Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia—especially for Indonesian domestic workers.
The book provides insights into what this reader has always found a complex area of social and policy formulation and practice, especially because of the reported pecuniary and political interests of Ministry of Manpower officials in the administration of an extremely lucrative area of policy. The book also includes representations of former officials with close ties to the ministry in private and public migrant recruitment agencies approved by the ministry. This is an extremely basah (wet) part of the bureaucracy, with multiple opportunities for rent-seeking. Three findings—not necessarily those highlighted by the author—were of particular interest to this reviewer. First, the book provides a good example of President Yudhoyono’s reformist bent in regard to labour migration, on the basis of solid intellectual and moral foundations. Yet at the same time it illustrates his failure to complete key reforms. Palmer refers to ‘The President’s Silence’(p. 94).
Second, as Palmer emphasises, the regional diversity in institutional arrangements for the administration of labour migration by government agencies. His narrative drives home how varied the institutional responses have been to decentralisation, fashioned by both history and geography. In Tanjung Pinang, for example, the provincial government and BNP2TKI seem to have worked out an acceptable modus operandi in jointly managing the recruitment of migrants. This contrasts with arrangements in Medan and Semarang, where there was considerable conflict between BNP2TKI and the central government and provincial offices. The pattern was different again in Surabaya, East Java. Jakarta was shut out entirely from migrant-labour recruitment by the provincial government, despite contravening legislation. Here, for a period, the not inconsiderable revenue from the migrant levy went straight into the coffers of the provincial government.
Finally, the author provides a rare, field-based glimpse of the substantial challenges faced by the Indonesian labour attachés in embassies who are charged with improving migrant conditions in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. Palmer describes some partially successful efforts to protect migrant interests, such as giving migrants their own passports and dealing with issues such as trafficking and the abuse of labour standards. These efforts were often against the interests of other players (government officials, recruiting firms, and employers), including, sometimes, the interests of other Indonesian officials in the same embassy. However, the main theme of bureaucratic conflict, and efforts at resolution reverberating from Jakarta, falls a bit flat in this last empirical chapter. This is because one of the main protagonists (BNP2TKI) is not represented at all in reform efforts. Even though the book is quite short, it is not an easy read; but it is a worthwhile one. The long introductory chapter on the history of the program, mostly during the New Order era, is very informative. The legal reforms are well documented, although they are numerous, as are the main actors in the two central government organisations that are the focus of the story. Given the author’s careful documentation of institutional reforms, lawyers and political scientists may take more away from this book than will economists. But there is plenty here for the dismal scientists as well.