Strengthening Indonesia's Migrant Worker Legislation: Reality and Necessity

Abstract

Indonesian migrant workers contribute significantly to the well-being of their remaining families in Indonesia and the Indonesian economy. However, the contributions of migrant labourers to the economic development of the nation are not matched by adequate legal protection for their fundamental rights due to the lack of sufficient legislation to govern the migrant workers. This thesis is predicated on the premise that the low quality of Indonesian migrant worker legislation, both in terms of substance and process of lawmaking, contributes to the poor governance of the country's migrant workers. This exhaustive analysis of the colonial and post-colonial origins of Indonesia's legislation regarding migrant workers reveals that the preservation of migrant workers' rights was not the primary objective. The major issue mentioned in migrant worker legislation is the government's aim in expelling migrant workers. In the colonial period, two bonded laws known as "coolie law" under the Dutch colonial government and "romusha law" under the Japanese emperor viewed migrant workers as a strategic tool to state interests in their economic development agenda further. Since more than half a century since Indonesian independence, the law governing migrant workers was never been enacted in the form of a statute but rather through technical policies such as the President's Regulation or President's Instruction, as well as ministerial rules. These instrument policies aimed to accomplish the government's aim, which was systematically managed by utilising the five-year development plan ('Rencana Pembangunan Lima Tahun-Repelita'). However, after Suharto's ouster in 1998, subsequent presidents adopted a similar stance on migrant workers. NGOs and academics encouraged the government to enact legislation to protect the human rights of migrant workers in response to the harsh conditions migrant workers face in other countries. In 2004 response to their demand, the Indonesian Parliament enacted the first Migrant Worker Act, which was later revised in 2017. However, the prevailing focus on placement objectives in migration governance has hindered considerable improvements in protecting migrant workers' human rights. This thesis explains why Indonesian migrant worker legislation is the least favourable among the Asian countries under consideration. On the contrary, Philippine legislation is regarded as the most praiseworthy. Conversely, the legislation about migrant labourers in Pakistan and Nepal is considered average quality. This thesis posits adopting essential components from high-functioning nations to improve the calibre of legislation about Indonesian migrant labourers.