The Obstacles in Fulfilling Social Protection for Indonesian Women Migrant Workers in Malaysia from 2016 to 2018
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18196/hi.82155Keywords:
social protection, Indonesian women migrant workers, legal barriers, regulation of Indonesia’s migration, Malaysia immigration policyAbstract
According to BNP2TKI, Malaysia is the most popular destination country for Indonesian Women Migrant Workers (IWMW), as well as at the top list of IWMW complaints. One of those complaints is regarding the social protection issue. The provision of social protection for IWMW is still limited while it is part of migrant’s rights. The Malaysian government has put some regulations that command its institutions to provide the protections both to its citizens and non-citizens. This study found three big constraints of procuring social protection to IWMW in Malaysia; they were legal barriers, problems in the regulation of Indonesia, and Malaysia immigration policy. In this article, the author analyzed those constraints using feminist theory. This article found that social protection in Malaysia has not fully considered women’s perspectives and experiences while being critical. Furthermore, migration arrangements, both in Indonesia and Malaysia, are also problematic. Those three factors will be discussed in detail using a feminist perspective in looking at the whole problem and the relationship between the patriarchal system and the economy that suppress women.
References
Anwar, B. (2019, May 2). Jaminan Sosial untuk Perempuan Pekerja Migran Indonesia di Malaysia, periode 2016-2018. (H. Maulidia, Interviewer)
Arisman, & Jaya, R. K. (2018). Protection of Human Rights and Labour Migration for Employment Purposed across ASEAN. Jakarta: CSEAS.
ASEAN. (2015). Social Security and Maternity Protection for Female Workers: Laws and Practices in ASEAN. Retrieved from https://www.asean.org/wp-content/uploads/images/2015/August/ASEAN-Labour-Ministerial-Meeting-document/maternity%2012_3_2014.pdf
Asia Pacific Migration Networks. (2012). MSIG Insurance. Retrieved from http://apmigration.ilo.org/resources/mou-between-government-of-the-republic-of-indonesia-and-the-government-of-malaysia-on-the-recruitment-and-placement-of-indonesian-dom
Asia Pacific Migration Networks. (n.d.). Protokol Perubahan terhadap Nota Kesepahaman antara Pemerintah Republik Indonesia dan Pemerintah Malaysia mengenai Perekrutan dan Penempatan Pekerja Domestik Indonesia tahun 2011. Retrieved from http://apmigration.ilo.org/resources/mou-between-g
Azmy, A. S. (2012). Negara dan Buruh Migran Perempuan: Kebijakan Perlindungan Buruh Migran Perempuan Indonesia Masa Pemerintahan Susilo bambang Yudhoyono 2004-2010. Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia.
BNP2TKI. (2016). Data Penempatan dan Perlindungan Tenaga Kerja Indonesia tahun 2016. Retrieved from http://portal.bnp2tki.go.id/read/12024/Data-Penempatan-dan-Perlindungan-TKI-Periode-Tahun-2016.html.
BNP2TKI. (2018). Data Penempatan dan Perlindungan PMI periode bulan September 2018. Retrieved from http://portal.bnp2tki.go.id/read/14133/Data-Penempatan-dan-Perlindungan-TKI-Periode-Tahun-2018.html.
Castirah. (2019, May 15). Jaminan Sosial untuk Perempuan Pekerja Migran Indonesia (PPMI) di Malaysia, periode 2016-2018. (H. Maulidia, Interviewer)
CHUBB. (2018). Product Disclosure Sheet-Domestic Help Insurance. Retrieved from https://www.chubb.com/my-en/_assets/documents/domestic-help_eng.pdf
Data Terbuka Malaysia. (2017). Jumlah Pekerja Asing PLKS Aktif Mengikuti Jantina dan Negara Sumber. Retrieved from http://www.data.gov.my/data/ms_MY/dataset/jumlah-pekerja-asing-plks-aktif-mengikut-jantina-dan-negara-sumber
DPN SBMI. (2018). SBMI Tangani 1500 Kasus BMI Periode 2015 – 2017. Retrieved from http://sbmi.or.id/2018/12/sbmi-tangani-1500-kasus-bmi-periode-2015-2017/
Elias, J. (2013). Foreign Policy and The Domestic Worker: The Malaysia-Indonesia Domestic Worker Dispute. International Feminist Journal of Politic, 15(3). doi:10.1080/14616742.2012.755835
Employment Act 1955. (2006). Employment Act 1955. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/travail/docs/1496/Employment%20Act%201955.pdf
Gayuh, S. (2019, May 15). Jaminan Sosial untuk Perempuan Pekerja Migran Indonesia (PPMI) di Malaysia, periode 2016-2018. (H. Maulidia, Interviewer)
Ginneken, W. v. (2013). Social Protection for Migrant Workers: National and International Policy Challanges. European Journal of Social Security, 15(2), 210. doi:10.1177/138826271301500206
Hamidi, M. (2016). Indonesian Female Factory Workers: The Gendered Migration Policy in Malaysia. People: International Journal of Social Science.
Harkins, B. (2016). Review of Labour Migration Policy in Malaysia. Bangkok: ILO.
Harkrisnowo, S. (2019, April 5). Jaminan Sosial untuk Perempuan Pekerja Migran Indonesia (PPMI) di Malaysia, periode 2016-2018. (H. Maulidia, Interviewer)
Hutagalung, S. A., & Indrio, V. T. (2018). Laporan Tematik Studi Midline Tema 3: Akses Perempuan Buruh Migran Luar Negeri terhadap Layanan Perlindungan. Smeru Research Institute.
IOM. (2010). Labour Migration from Indonesia: An Overview of Indonesian Migration to Selected Destinations in Asia and The Middle East. Jakarta: International Organitation for Migration.
Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.imi.gov.my/index.php/ms/pembantu-rumah-asing.html#
Kaur, A. (2008). International Migration and Governance in Malaysia: Policy and Performance. UNEAC Asia Papers, 22, 4-18.
Kaur, A. (2013). Asia, Gender and Migration. In I. Ness (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. doi:10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm042
Kaur, A. (2015). Migration and Integration in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia. (2011). Kaedah Pelaksanaan Skim Perlindungan Insurans Kesihatan Pekerja Asing. Retrieved from http://www.moh.gov.my/index.php/pages/view/369.
Kementerian Ketenagakerjaan RI. (2017). Peraturan Menteri Ketenagakerjaan RI No. 7 tahun 2017 tentang Program Jaminan Sosial Tenaga Kerja Indonesia. Retrieved from https://jdih.kemnaker.go.id/data_puu/KEPMENAKER%20NO%20206%20TAHUN%202017.pdf
King, G., Keohane, R., & Verba, S. (1994). Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Lastati, D. (2019, 29 April). Migrasi Buruh Migran. Pusat Sumber Daya Buruh Migran. Retrieved from https://buruhmigran.or.id/2019/04/29/migrasi-buruh-migran/
Lerner, G. (1993). The Creation of Feminist consciusness. From The Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Migrant Care. (2018). Perwujudan Tata Kelola Migrasi Aman (safe Migration). Retrieved from Migrant Care: http://www.migrantcare.net/program/perwujudan-tata-kelola-migrasi-aman-safe-migration/
Narain, S. (2014). Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives of J. Ann Tickner. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 21(2). doi:10.1177/0971521514525085
Nurjanah, N. (2019, Maret 28). Jaminan Sosial Perempuan Pekerja Migran Indonesia (PPMI) di Malaysia, periode 2016-2018. (H. Maulidia, Interviewer)
Oakton Community College. (2012). A Very Short Summary of Socialist Feminist Theory and Practice Socialist Feminist. Retrieved from https://www.oakton.edu/user/4/ghamill/Socialist_Feminism.pdf
Oliver, M. (2018). Social Protection for Migrant Workers in ASEAN: Development, Challanges, and Prospects. Thailand: ILO.
Pereira, M. A. (2019, Mei 3). Jaminan Sosial untuk Perempuan Pekerja Migran Indonesia di Malaysia, periode 2016-2018. (H. Maulidia, Interviewer)
Raharto, A., & Noveria, M. (2012). Advocacy Group for Indonesian Women Migrant Workers. Jurnal Kependudukan Indonesia, VII(1).
Ramdhany, D. R. (2016). Responsibility of Protection Indonesian Female Migrant Workers. International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, 10(4).
Rivera, M. M. (1992). Social Security Protection of Migrant Workers. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 1(3-4). doi:10.1177/011719689200100305
Sarah, N. (2016, June 28). Mengenal Asuransi bagi Buruh Migran di Malaysia. Pusat Sumber Daya Buruh Migran. Retrieved from https://buruhmigran.or.id/2016/06/28/mengenal-asuransi-bagi-buruh-migran-di-malaysia/
Silva, M. H. (2002). Standards fot the XXIst Century: Social Security. Austria: ILO.
Sjoberg, L. (2016). What, and Where, is Feminist Security Studies? Journal of Regional Security, 143-161.
Tong, R. (2009). Feminist Thought. Colorado: Westview Press.
UNWomen. (2017). Women Migrant Workers in the ASEAN Economic Community. Thailand: UN Women Asia Pacific.
Wiratri, A. (2016). Is Working an Empowerment Tool for Women? Case Study Indonesian Migrant Workers in Malaysia. Journal Masyarakat Indonesia, 39(1). doi:10.14203/jmi.v39i1.292
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Jurnal Hubungan Internasional

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
License
This journal is based on the work at journal.umy.ac.id/index.php/jhi under license from Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. You are free to:
- Share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
- Adapt – remix, transform, and build upon the material.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms, which include the following:
- Attribution. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- Non-Commercial. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- No additional restrictions. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Copyright
The author should be aware that by submitting an article to this journal, the article's copyright will be fully transferred to Jurnal Hubungan Internasional. Authors are allowed to resend their manuscript to other journals or intentionally withdraw the manuscript only if both parties (Jurnal Hubungan Internasional and Authors) have agreed on the issue. Once the manuscript has been published, authors are allowed to use their published article under Jurnal Hubungan Internasional copyrights.
All authors are required to deliver the agreement of license transfer once they submit the manuscript to Jurnal Hubungan Internasional. By signing the agreement, the copyright is attributed to this journal to protect the intellectual material for the authors. Authors are allowed to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium and in any circumstances to give appropriate credit and wide readership to the work.