00074918.2014.896311

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Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] Date: 17 January 2016, At: 23:25

Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies

ISSN: 0007-4918 (Print) 1472-7234 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cbie20

Labour Migration and Human Trafficking in

Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives

Chris Manning

To cite this article: Chris Manning (2014) Labour Migration and Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 50:1, 142-143, DOI:

10.1080/00074918.2014.896311

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2014.896311

Published online: 24 Mar 2014.

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142 Book Reviews

secondary level—such partnerships will be vital if the government goal of univer-sal 12-year education is to be achieved in the foreseeable future.

A inal point to note that speaks well of this volume and its contribution to the recent literature on Indonesian education: many of my colleagues and coun-terparts have read all or most of these papers, and most have commented on the book’s usefulness both as a reference point for the current state of Indonesian edu-cation, and, perhaps more important, as a guide to the magnitude and character of the task ahead. They are a critical lot, so praise indeed.

Jerry Strudwick

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Jakarta

Labour Migration and Human Traficking in Southeast Asia:

Critical Perspectives. Edited by Michele Ford, Lenore Lyons, and Willem van Schendel. Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series.

London: Routledge, 2012. Pp. xvi + 173. Hardback: £85.00.

This book is an important contribution to an understanding of migration, warts and all, in Southeast Asia. Although the editors and the authors are not econo-mists, it should be of interest to economists working in this ield, as well as other social scientists. For this reader, who works mainly on labour migration, the book is a nice introduction to some of the hazards and complexities of migration, across a wide spectrum of systems and institutions.

As the title implies, the book brings together work on two closely related top-ics—labour migration and human traficking (and people smuggling)—which are generally written about by two different streams of researchers. Labour migra-tion feeds into broader debates on economic growth and development in send-ing and receivsend-ing countries. Human traficksend-ing, in contrast, is much more about the exploitation of vulnerable groups (especially women and young children) by people smugglers. It focuses on the failure of governments at both ends of the migration spectrum to protect their nationals who are prey to proit-seeking inter-mediaries. The book deals with both dimensions of migration, although most of its chapters say more about exploited groups in the ‘hot spots’ of sending and receiving countries.

The book comprises nine chapters—three on Indonesia, ive on its neighbours, and one informative introductory chapter. Most of the chapters are much more about the exploitative nature of migration processes than they are about the bene-its of temporary people movements (better living standards in destination coun-tries, remittances, and the accumulation of ‘human capital’) that tend to be the focus of economists. The chapter by Larissa Sandy deals with conlicts between differing perspectives of, on the one hand, attempts by international bodies to eliminate prostitution related to the sex trade and, on the other, attempts by local human-rights organisations and NGOs to improve the social and economic circumstances of prostitutes in Cambodia. Sandy argues that, often, interventions ‘are doing more harm than good’ (p. 51).

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Book Reviews 143

Two other chapters address similar themes along the Thailand–Laos border and in a town close to the China–Vietnam border. The more theoretical chapter of the two, by Sverre Molland, on searching for migration hot spots (and hence opportunities for intervention) on the Thailand–Laos border, questions whether an array of programs mounted to control migration in recent years has ‘signii-cantly affected migration’ (p. 71).

The other two Southeast Asian chapters have more disparate themes. While Jorge Tigno focuses on the discourse about women, human rights, and traficking in the Philippines, Nicholas Farrelly examines some of the political dimensions of the ubiquitous movement of Burmese along the border and into major Thai cities. He also points to the dilemma of seeking to outlaw the traficking arrangements of agents and people smugglers, some of whom make life much more miserable for migrants; yet others use their ‘exploitative’ actions to give migrants the oppor-tunity to enjoy a vastly better quality of life in Thailand.

Two of the Indonesian chapters discuss the outer islands bordering Singapore and Malaysia: the Riau Islands (Michele Ford and Lenore Lyons) and the West Kali-mantan border areas with Sarawak (Michael Eilenberg). In both cases the authors draw attention to the inability of the state to distinguish in its policies between genuine economic and socio-cultural migrants and those who are helped or traf-icked by agents. Sometimes the policies are intentionally vague because of the vested interests of border protection oficialdom. In the case of the Riau Islands, one dimension of the tussle has been between the national NGOs and the inter-national bodies whose funding comes from organisations committed in a rather blinkered way to eradicating traficking and smuggling at all costs. Along the West Kalimantan border with Sarawak, the conlict is much more about allowing local people to continue long-standing patterns of movement to villages across the bor-der. Border oficials often do not distinguish in policy between these and the large number of unregistered migrants recruited to work on palm-oil plantations.

The inal Indonesian chapter, by Wayne Palmer, discusses in more detail some of these contradictions in the approaches of the various government agencies that regulate both migration and traficking. Palmer examines these dilemmas in the ield, among labour attachés who see the beneits accruing to migrants in coun-tries like Malaysia and Singapore but at the same time are aware of the exploita-tive aspects of the relationship.

In all, the book is an informative and stimulating collection of papers. The original papers were presented at a conference in Kuala Lumpur in 2009, so no doubt the debates have since moved on somewhat. Also, the promise of ‘detailed ethnographic accounts’ of the practices of players in this ield is perhaps a little overdrawn. Further, some of the papers will not be easy reading for some econo-mists, given their theoretical tone. Nevertheless, the editors have done a ine job in highlighting the complexities of overcoming some of the abuses created by migration, traficking, and people smuggling, while at the same time reminding readers that people should still be allowed to vote with their feet.

Chris Manning

The Australian National University