Indonesian Domestic Workers in Singapore and Malaysia: Labour Management Systems and a Rights-Based Perspective

Abstract

International labour migration from Indonesia is inseparable from the country's economic development policies, and the country is currently the second largest labour exporter in Southeast Asia. There are more than 3 998 592 Indonesian workers deployed overseas (2006 and 2012 periods), of which 1 278 200 work in Singapore and Malaysia, and women represent 84 per cent of these workers. The export of labour became more institutionalised after the government established the Directorate for Placement of Indonesian Migrant Workers Overseas and deregulated transnational labour recruitment. Indonesia then became a labour brokerage state, mobilising Indonesians for employment abroad and also marketing Indonesian women, in particular, for the international labour market through bilateral agreements. Low-skilled Indonesian women are a very important group of migrants because of their poor economic status and unequal economic opportunities in Indonesia. They are employed mainly as domestic workers in Singapore and Malaysia, and face many problems in both countries associated with their employment circumstances and exclusion from the scope of national labour laws. The domestic workers are not only among the country's biggest export-earners but are also regarded as a more reliable source of remittances.