A fluid border? Indonesia-Malaysia labour migration and human trafficking from human security perspectives

The relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia in one of amongst all factors is also strongly intertwined by labour migration. In 2019, Indonesia Central Bureau of Statistics reported Malaysia as the top receiving country of 79,662 Indonesian migrant workers who started their working journey abroad (Idris, 2020). From the perspective of remittances, the contribution of migrant workers as Indonesia’s backbone is unquestionable. Looking at migrant workers from a numerical perspective, their contribution to country’s economic development just seems ‘too good to be true’ without seeing the other side – the real threat of their migration journey. Malaysia is the leading destination for victims of human trafficking due to the vulnerability of the system in place, in which two countries control the entry and exit of undocumented migrant workers. This research will provide a thorough analysis of the central elements and experiences of the migration regime by understanding the regulation and social practices in the Riau Islands and how it influences the risk of human trafficking in this region. In short, this research paper will explore the migration regimes in the Riau Islands that consist of various dynamics from policy, state actors, non-state actors, and ‘potential’ trafficked migrant workers that are still not enabling a comprehensive environment that provides the guarantee for human security. In the case of labor migration, politicization and securitization highly influence the regime where priority still places in the favor of ‘state’ not ‘human/individuals’. In the policy and its practices, there is still a lack of normative grounding on understanding ‘human security concepts where the technical tools or instruments are also still absent to be implemented. Although humanitarian actors from different backgrounds have been trying to apply the two basic pillars of human security which are 'protection' and 'empowerment' of the migrants workers while handling human trafficking cases, without structural reform and sustainable compliance within the whole system in the regime, there is no guarantee that the risk of human trafficking can be reduced or abolished.