Follow the Maid: Domestic Worker Migration in and from Indonesia

124 Pages·2018·3.25 MB·English

by  Olivia Killias

GENDERING ASIA
A Series on Gender Intersections
GenderingA sia is a well-established and exciting series addressing t ways in which power
FOLLOW
and constructions of gender, sex, sexuality and the body in terse ·t h one another and
pervade contemporary Asian societies. The series invites dis ssion ofhow people shape
their identities as females or males and, at the same time, corne shaped by the very
societies in which they live. / THEMAID
Series Editors: Wtl Burghoorn, Gothenburg University; Monica Lindberg Falk, Lund
University; Cecilia Milwertz, NIAS; and Pauline Stoltz, Aalborg University ( contact
details at: http://www.niaspress,dk).
1. Workinga nd Mothering in Asia. Images,I deologiesa nd Identifies,e dited by Theresa
W. Devasahayam and Brenda S.A. Yeoh Domestic Worker Migration in
2. Making Fieldso f Merit. Buddhist FemaleA scetics and GenderedO rders in Thailand, by
Monica Lindberg Falk
and from Indonesia
3. GenderP oliticsi n Asia. Women Manoeuvring within Dominant Gender Orders,e dited
by Wil Burghoorn, Kazuki lwanaga, Cecilia Milwertz and Qj Wang
4. Lost GoddessesT. he Denial of FemaleP oweri n CambodianH istory,b y Trudy Jacobsen
5 GenderedI nequalitiesi n Asia. Configuring,C ontestinga nd RecognizingW omen and
Men, edited by Helle Rydstmm
0 li via Killias
6. Submitting to God. Women and Islam in UrbanM alaysia, by Sylva Frisk
7. The Authority of Influence.W omen and Poweri n BurmeseH istory,b y Jessica Harriden
8. Beyondt he SingaporeG irl.D iscourseos f Gendera nd Nation in Singaporeb, y Chris Hudson
9. Vietnam'sN ew Middle Classes:G ender,C areer,C ity by Catherine Earl
10. GenderedE ntanglements:R evisiting Gender in Rapidly ChangingA sia, edited by
Ragnhild Lund, Philippe Doneys and Bernadette P. Resurrecci6n
11. Queer/ Tongzhi China: New Perspectiveso n Research,A ctivism and Media Cultures,
edited by Elisabeth L. Engebretsen and William F. Schroeder ( with Hongwei Bao)
12. CultivatingG ender:M eaningso f Placea nd Work in Rural Vietnam,b y Cecilia Bergstedt
13. Followt he Maid: Domestic Worker Migration in andf rom Indonesia,b y Olivia Killias
14. Queer Comrades:G ay Identity and TongzhiA ctivism in PostsocialistC hina, by
HongweiBao
NIAS Press is the autonomous publishing arm of NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies,
a research institute located at the University of Copenhagen. NIAS is partially funded by the
governments ofDenmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden via the Nordic Council
ofMinisters, and works to encourage and support Asian studies in the Nordic countries. In
so doing, NIAS has been publishing books since 1969, with more than two hundred titles
produced in the past few years.
•
•
e ·e·"e· ·· n·as
•.~,~,,.• 1 PRESS
•
nordcn
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN Nordic Council ofMinisters
GENDERING ASIA
A Series on Gender Intersections
GenderingA sia is a well-established and exciting series addressing t ways in which power
FOLLOW
and constructions of gender, sex, sexuality and the body interse ith one another and
pervade contemporary Asian societies. The series invites dis ssion ofhow people shape
their identities as females or males and, at the same lime, corne shaped by the very
societies in which they live. /
THEMAID
Series Editors: Wil Burghoorn, Gothenburg University; Monica Lindberg Falk, Lund
University; Cecilia Milwertz, NIAS; and Pauline Stoltz, Aalborg University ( contact
details at: http://www.niaspress.dk).
l. Working and Mothering in Asia. Images,I deologiesa nd Identities,e dited by Theresa
W. Devasahayam and Brenda S.A. Yeoh Domestic Worker Migration in
2. Making Fieldso f Merit. Buddhist FemaleA scetics and GenderedO rdersi n Thailand, by
Monica Lindberg Falk
and from Indonesia
3. GenderP oliticsi n Asia. Women Manoeuvring within Dominant Gender Orders,e dited
by Wil Burghoorn, Kazuki lwanaga, Cecilia Milwertz and Q! Wang
4. Lost GoddessesT. he Denial of FemaleP oweri n CambodianH istory,b y Trudy Jacobsen
S GenderedI nequalitiesi n Asia. Configuring,C ontestinga nd RecognizingW omen and
Men, edited by Helle Rydstrom
Olivia Killias
6. Submitting to God. Women and Islam in UrbanM alaysia, by Sylva Frisk
7. The Authority of Influence.W omen and Poweri n BurmeseH istory,b y Jessica Harriden
8. Beyond the SingaporeG irl. Discourseos f Gendera nd Nation in Singaporeb, y Chris Hudson
9. Vietnam'.sN ew Middle Classes:G ender,C areer,C ity by Catherine Earl
10. GenderedE ntanglements:R evisiting Gender in Rapidly ChangingA sia, edited by
Ragnhild Lund, Philippe Doneys and Bernadette P. Resurrecci6n
11. Queer/Tongzhi China: New Perspectiveso n Research,A ctivism and Media Cultures,
edited by Elisabeth L. Engebretsen and William F. Schroeder ( with Hongwei Bao)
12. CultivatingG ender:M eaningso f Placea nd Work in Rural Vietnam,b y Cecilia Bergstedt
13. Followt heMaid: Domestic WorkerM igration in and from Indonesia,b y Olivia Killias
14. Queer Comrades:G ay Identity and Tongzhi Activism in PostsocialistC hina, by
HongweiBao
NIAS Press is the autonomous publishing arm of NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies,
a research institute located at the University of Copenhagen. NIAS is partially funded by the
govemments ofDenmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden via the Nordic Council
ofMinisters, and works to encourage and support Asian studies in the Nordic countries. In
so doing, NIAS has been publishing books since 1969, with more than two hundred titles
produced in the past few years.
•
•
e -~.~.: . n ·as
• 0"''f··· 1 PRESS
nordcn
UNIVERSITY OF CO PEN HAGEN Nordic Councîl ofMinisters
Contents
Ack11owledgeme11..t.s vii
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Gendering Asia series, no. 13 List of Figures. . . vi
Introduction ... 1
First published in 2018 by NIAS Press
NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 1. The Indonesian Migration Regime ... 25
0ster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark
2. Leaving the Tea Fields ... 57
Tel: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected], Online: www.niaspress.dk ]. On the Road: Male Realms ofBrokerage ... 87
4. At Camp: Indonesian Maids in the Making ... 107
© Olivia Killias 2018 S. Doors Closed: Indonesian Domestic Workers in Malaysia ... 141
6. Return - and New Departures ... 179
Conclusion ... 201
A CIP cataloguer ecordfo r this book is availablefr om the British Library
References ... 209
Index ... 229
ISBN: 978-87-7694-226-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-87-7694-227-4 (pbk)
Typeset in Arno Pro 12/ 14.4
Typesetting by NIAS Press
Cover image: A photographer arranges a woman's hair before a photo shooting in a
domestic worker recruitment agency on Java (©Olivia Killias). Cover design: 1405 -
Studio for Visual Communication (Jan-Eric Stephan and Iris Holtkamp ).
Printed and bound in Great Britain
by Marston Book Services Limited, Oxfordshire
A,kn11wledgements
Follow the Maid
Debonneville, Heike Drotbohm, Don Gardner, Nicholas De Genova,
and Heinzpeter Znoj (again!), for sharing their thoughts and enabling
Melanie Griffiths, Judith Hangartner, Hew Wai Weng, Frederik Holst,
me to participate in collective debates that have been instrumental in
Vincent Houben, Heinz Kaufeler, Gaik Cheng Khoo, Michael Kleinod,
developing my thinking about labour migration. Special thanks go to Lê
Wahyu Kuncoro, Julian Lee, Marylène Lieber, Johan Lindquist, Lye
Thu Huong, who was an incredibly stimulating companion and without
Tuck-Po, Soon Chuan Yean, Sumit Mandai, Antje Missbach, Cetta Main
whom fieldwork in Malaysia would not have been the same.
waring, Anna Neubauer, Kathrin Oester, Wayne Palmer,James C. Scott,
In Indonesia, Pujo Semedi and Sjafri Sairin at GadjahMada University
Stephanie Silvermann, Manja Stephan, Martine Stoffel, Pujo Semedi,
were instrumental in getting my research onto the right track. I would
Azmil Tayeb, Sue Thüler, Hans-RudolfWicker, Xiang Biao, Yeoh Seng
like to express my immense gratitude in particular to Pujo Semedi for
Guan, and last but not least, Sabine Zurschmitten.
having helped me to 'find my field', and for his continuous interest in my
When revising the manuscript, the Institute of Social Anthropology
work. His input remains invaluable. I am also deeply thankful to Karina
and Cultural Studies of the University of Zurich provided me with
Ayu Rarasasri Gumilang, for her research assistance and for sharing so
a stimulating intellectual environment in which I felt very much at
many of the experiences described in this book. I thank Izmail Fahmi
home. I thank ail of my colleagues there for encouraging me through
Lubish, Wahyu Kuncoro, Jenny Widiastuti, Elia Rosmala, Eni Lestari
the last stages of the production process. Annuska Derks, in particular,
and Yustin Emik Nuryani for their help and advice. I thank LIPI /
has followed this project from its very first steps to its completion, and
RISTEK for the research clearance in Indonesia; and the BNP2TKI and
she shielded me from other responsibilities while I was finalising this
the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, whose employees have been
book manuscript. I owe her enormous thanks for her critical input and
helpful and willing to support my project. I am also grateful to employ
her continuous encouragement over the years - our conversations are
ees and volunteers at the following NGOs for sharing their work with
deeply interwoven into the current text. I would also like to express
me: Migrant Care, Solidaritas Perempuan and Tjoek Nak Dien. Finally
my gratitude to my colleagues Molly Fitzpatrick, Esther Horat, Ursina
yet importantly, I thank Leonard Retel Helmrich and Hetty Naaijkens
Jaeger and Michael Meier for their comments on the introduction.
for having brought me to Indonesia in the first place, broadening my
Last but not least, the members of a wonderful writing group have
horizons in numerous ways.
read through al! chapters of the book, and their thoughtful comments,
In Malaysia, I am particularly indebted to Rashila Ramli from the
encouragements and friendship have helped me immensely in conclud
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for her support to this project and for
ing this book: Sandra Barnreuther, Jennifer Bartmess, Esther Leemann,
hosting me as a research associate. I am really grateful to Hoo Chew
Juliane Neuhaus and lrina Wenk.
Ping, who assisted me with translations of some of the interviews car
At NIAS Press, I thank Gerald Jackson and Wil Burghoorn for their
ried out with Chinese Malaysian employers in Malaysia. In Penang, I
belief in this project, and for unfailing support in taking it through to
thank Salma Khoo and Abdur-Razzaq Lubis for having introduced me
completion. Without them this book would not have seen the light of
to their large network of friends and colleagues, which proved to be of
day. I would also like to warmly thank the two reviewers,Johan Lindquist
critical importance to my fieldwork. Last but not least, I thank activists
and Sarnia Dinkelaker, for their invaluable comments and suggestions,
at Suaram and Tenaganita for sharing their insights with me.
and Monica Janowski, for the editing that has significantly improved
This book has been a long time in the making, and it has benefitted
the quality of this text. I also thank Anthony Horton for his thorough
from conversations with colleagues at the various institutions where I
proofreading and indexing, and Jan-Eric Stephan and Iris Holtkamp for
have been based over the last few years, and beyond. I would like to ex
designing the cover of the book.
press my gratitude to the followingpeople who have shared their thoughts
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my wonder
with me on themes developed in this book: Bridget Anderson, Benjamin
ful friends and families for their love and encouragement, and for having
Baumann, Bettina Beer, David Bozzini, Rosa Cordillera Castillo, Julien
ix
viii
Followt he Maid
borne with me when I was preoccupied with nothing but my book. My
parents, in particular, kept believing in me, and I am immensely thankful
to both of them for the support that each of them has provided me with
Introduction
throughout the years. Most of all, I thank Silvanus Sri Bahagya for having
taken me on his motorcycle on a sunny evening, and for not having let
go of me ever since, and to Dimas Samadi for having made the world a
more joyful place; their loving care throughout this process has been my
strongest source of support, and I dedicate this book to both ofthem.
The afternoon was already drawing to a close when I got into the back
of a car, together with three Indonesian women who were about to be
Mohon maaflahir dan batin.
escorted to their Malaysian employers on that day of April 2008: Santi,
Zurich, February 2018
Jamilah and Rini. 1 Each of them had a fully packed bag in the boot of the
car, the only luggage they were to take with them to the homes where
they would spend the next two years.
Alex, the Malaysian agent who was about to place the women with
their employers, was driving the car. His wife Brenda sat next to him,
and on her knees she held a business case with the persona! documents
and work contracts of each of the women in it. We left the island of
Penang by taking the bridge to the mainland and then drove for a long
time: we took a highway, left it, took some smaller roads, passed through
suburban regions, drove past industrial zones. During the drive, Santi,
Jamilah and Rini kept completely silent - the ambiance was tense, full of
expectation and anxiety.
From time to time, Alex looked at the three women through the back
mirror and addressed them in Malay. He reminded them of the most
important rule: 'Once you're there you'll have to work well, okay?'
AddressingJamilah, he said: 'If the old grandmother is grumpy ( cerewet),
just don't pay attention to her, she's always like that, even with me she
is nit-picking all the time! Just stay silent (diam), okay? The important
thing is that you always stay polite'. And, addressing Santi more specifi
cally: 'And you, don't speak to men! Your employer doesn't like it, okay?
Don't speak to anyone!' The women nodded: 'Yes, sir'.
After a while, we stopped on the pathway next to a two-storey house
that appeared to be the home of Santi's employer. Santi was asked to get
out of the car and to take her bag. Everything happened very quickly:
1. Except for well-known public figures, ail names in this study are pseudonyms.
X
Follow the Maid Introduction
agent Brenda walked Santi to her new employer, while Alex stayed in the ·, 0 NIASP ress2 018
car with the two remaining women.
~.~~. ~~
1..
Santi's employer-to-be was an elderly Chinese Malaysian woman. \·~ '·,t P.e. n al:~:1·~·. .. . A.·.·Jf.· +-Y SIA
She was waiting for us under the porch of her house. Santi had been *"- ~u . ,; ~
recruited to replace her current domestic worker, a young woman from i? 1) . :) . • 'àla Lumpur
1~ '\ ( ; rr
Java who had been working for her for several years and planned to go l') ;,
l
back. Brenda asked the current domestic worker to corne over to meet C'" 11'l.1': s'INÇ.,APORE
Santi: 'You explain the work to her, okay? Otherwise we won't let you
sr
5·
go home,' she joked. Santi was then escorted inside by a young woman :,:
~
who had not been introduced to her. Still standing in front of the house,
~
"
the elderly employer was very eager to ask questions, but Brenda kept it "l,
n
0
short. She handed her a copy of the work con tract and told her that she ~
1
would get Santi's passport in two weeks' time. After that, Santi was left '"
e
with her employer, and we drove off, to escort the other two women to
0 Jakarta
"
their future homes.
~
::!; •, . . il : . see :1 · : . .Magura ·
After months in which Indonesian women had been 'prepared' for 1i. , :!il, ,:. fi<W..J,:q va • Surabaya
employment in paid domestic service, after weeks of bureaucratie delays .03 . Bancfun~, :_~':-~J.,!/,fÎf· i (.B{,I//.
and hours spent waiting, what struck me about this interaction was the 0" «J1 ·, it
haste with which Indonesian women were ushered to their Malaysian Figure 1: Research sites in Indonesia and Malaysia.
employers. It seemed like an incredibly short period of introduction
before Brenda left Santi with her new employer - they had never met
each other before. Since Malaysian immigration regulations require this country would depend on the kind of employer they would get. The
Indonesian domestic workers to live-in with their employers, Santi women with whom I had spoken in Indonesia had often said tergantung
was expected to live and work for her employer for a standard period majikan - it depends on the employer. Migrant women's dreams of a
of two years - her employer's home was thus bath Santi's place of work better future but also their anxieties about possible abuse, nourished by
and her place of residence. Working in the privacy of 'homes' involves the continuous 'horror stories' featured in the media ( Gamburd 2000),
intimate everyday coexistence, something which clearly differentiates gave this moment in which they were escorted to their employers a
it from other workplaces and gives employers control over aspects of particular significance.
the worker's life that are not at all related to her work (Hess 2005: 151; In this book, I literally follow the paths of migrant domestic workers
see also Anderson 2000 ). In this context, the role of agents cannot be from one specific village in upland Java through the process of recruit
neglected; little described in the literature, so-called 'maid agents' are ment, training and placement with families in terraced houses in leafy
important actors in the globalisation of care as they not only set the middle-class Malaysian suburbs - and back.
standards of recruitment and placement but also socialise employers While the situation of migrant domestic workers in destination
as to the expectations they can have of their domestic workers (Tyner countries is relativelywell documented, the ways in which these women's
1999; Liang 2011). mobility is both enabled and controlled by various state and non-state
Understandably,Jamilah, Santi and Rini were nervous before meeting actors in the migration process is much less understood (see Lindquist,
their employers, as so much of their experience as domestic workers in Xiang and Yeoh 2012). Indeed, scholarship on migrant domestic workers
2 3
Followt he Maid Introduction
2007; Lindquist 2010; 2013; 2015; 2017; Kloppenburg and Peters
0 - 500 m. above sea level
2012; Bach 2013; Chan 2014; Palmer 2016; Prusinski 2016; Fanany and
500-1,000
1-----, Fanany 2017; Nurchayati forthcoming).
1,000 - 2,000 Java Sea
Indonesia has become one of the main labour-sending countries in
the world. Since the early 2000s, every year hundreds of thousands of
women have left their homes to work in the care sector within Indonesia,
in Malaysia, but also in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong
or the Gulf states. Malaysia is one of the most important destination
countries, and between 2006 and 2016 more than two and a half mil
lion Indonesian women left for Malaysia as domestic workers through
the state-sanctioned labour emigration programme. 2 The sheer numbers
involved show that these women have become crucial actors in contem
porary pro cesses of globalisation - a phenomenon that Saskia Sassen has
called 'the return of the serving classes' ( Sassen 2000: 510).
The Indonesian state started to promote labour emigration as part
of its development plans in the late 1960s, but it was only after the
Asian economic crisis in 1997 that it openly encouraged labour emigra
tion on a large scale, and the first 'National Law on the Placement and
Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers Overseas' was voted in par
liament in 2004 (Palmer 2016: 22). Women migrating for jobs in paid
domestic service represent the overwhelming majority of migrants who
© R.C ribb / NIASP ress2 018
have left Indonesia through the state-sanctioned programme of labour
Figure 2: The village I have called Kalembah and its environs. Based on a map kindly
export over the last two decades: until 2010, between 60% and 80%
supplied by Professor Robert Cribb, Australian National University.
of ail migrants who left Indonesia were women who got employed in
the 'informai' sector - in other words, in paid domestic service.3 These
in Asia has put the main focus on domestic workers' situation in places
numbers have subsequently decreased as the government has attempted
of destination (see e.g. Chin 1998; Parreflas 2001; Lan 2006; Constable
to limit the numbers of women employed in the 'informai' sector, and
2007 [1997] and 2014; Liebelt 2011), and, to a lesser extent, origin
has temporarily banned the sending of Indonesian domestic work-
( Gamburd 2000; Parreflas 2005b; Chan 2017; Nurchayati forthcoming).
In line with other recent anthropological research dealing with care mi
gration ( see especially Hess 2005 ), I instead highlight the processw hereby
2. These numbers are drawn from the statistics of the BNP2TKI (National Board for
women become domestic workers, tracking their migration paths along
the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers). They are espe
the transregional care chain, from a village in Indonesia through various cially impressive since a ban by the Indonesian government stopped Indonesian
transits to Malaysia and back again. In doing so, I draw on a growing body women from migrating to Malaysia as domestic workers for almost two years
between 2009 and 2011 ( see Elias 2013).
of literature dealing with various aspects of transnational labour migra
3. The Indonesian government differentiates between employment in 'formai' and
tion from Indonesia (see e.g. Cremer 1988; Spaan 1994; Tirtosudarmo
'informai' sectors (Lindquist 2010: 125). The 'informai' sector of employment
1999; Robinson 2000; Ford 2002; Haris 2002; Silvey2004a; 2006; 2007;
refers to employment in domestic service, while the formai sector covers al! other
Rudnyckyj 2004; Hugo 2005; Lyons 2005; Anggraeni 2006; Williams
sorts of employment (ibid.).
4 5
Follow the Maid Introduction
ers to Saudi Arabia, one of its most important destination countries.4 in gcographically dispersed places and thereby reveals the highly unequal
Nevertheless, the demand for domestic workers has increased rather conscquences of the international division of reproductive labour (Yeates
than decreased ( Oishi 2017: 40) and overall, over the last decade, the 2004; Ibos 2012b).
Indonesian government has sent between 100,000 and 500,000 women By zooming in on a specific care chain, in this book I move beyond an
abroad every year for employment in domestic service - which shows exclusive focus on the women directly involved in care work (both paid
that Indonesia has become one of the main 'labour brokerage states' and unpaid) to bring into view the whole range of intermediaries that
alongside the Philippines (Rodriguez 2010; see also Guevarra 2010). As make the chain work: brokers, recruitment agents, state bureaucrats,
the opening vignette of this chapter makes clear, Indonesian domestic maid agencies. In other words, I am interested in the infrastructureo f
workers do not leave Indonesia and enter destination countries as in care migration (Xiang and Lindquist 2014). In fact, a striking charac
dependent individuals; they are collectively recruited, trained, certified, teristic of the operation of global care chains lies in their relative opacity
and briefed by a vast array of actors from the moment they leave their ( Ibos 2012b); employers of migrant domestic workers, for instance,
villages in Indonesia up to the moment when they corne back. By zoom often ignore the presence of other nodes in the chain, both in the sense
ing in on the process of 'the making of the maid' (Lyons 2005) across of invisibilised care work performed elsewhere by other women and in
different sites and stages of the migration process, this book uncovers relation to the intervention of intermediaries such as commercial re
the transregional articulations and practical implications of contempo cruitment agencies in countries of origin (ibid.). As is the case with con
rary care chains, and thereby points to the historical transformation of ventional commodity chains, the intricate transnational articulations of
paid domestic service in Southeast Asia. care chains often obscure the full range of actors involved, thereby also
making it difficult to hold them accountable. Part of this book's objec
tive, then, is to explore these articulations, which often remain unseen.
Frictionsi n global care chains
The number of actors involved in - and making a profit from -
SociologistArlie Hochschild has coined the expression 'global care chains'
domestic worker migration in and from Indonesia indicates that paid
to describe 'a series of personal links between people across the globe
domestic service involves more than two parties. This is interesting,
based on the paid or unpaid work of caring' (Hochschild 2000: 131).
in that paid domestic service has often been envisioned as a relation
In Hochschild's conceptualisation, the expression 'global care chain' has
ship between two women, the 'maid' and the 'madam' (Mendez 1998:
been primarily used to describe the transfer of 'motherly' care, whereby
144). Paid domestic service, however, has been transnationalised and
a woman living in a 'First World' country (USA) delegates care work to a
bureaucratised, and intermediaries such as brokers and agents have an
migrant woman from a 'Third World' country (The Philippines), while
increasing - although not necessarily nove! - stake in the employment
the latter leaves her children in the care of yet another woman, either paid
of Indonesian women as domestic workers, both within Indonesia and
or unpaid (Hochschild 2000). The literature on global care chains has
beyond.
pointed attention to the physical and emotional labour involved in care,
Following Anna Tsing, I wish to explore, ethnographically, the global
arguing that global care chains extract 'emotional surplus value' (ibid.:
connections of the care chain by focusing on the 'sticky materiality of
136) from families in one site and transfer it to another. While the litera
practical encounters' (Tsing 2005: xx). In Friction (2005), Tsing writes
ture on global care chains has been criticised for essentialising motherly
against powerful narratives of 'global motion' that describe 'the flow
care and obscuring the various ways in which migrant women themselves
of goods, ideas, money and people as ( ... ) pervasive and unimpeded'.
might frame care and migration (Mckay 2007), the concept of the care
Instead of uncritically assuming effortless global mobility and connec
chain retains its usefulness because it links seemingly unrelated situations
tion, Tsing suggests that we look atfriction in global encounters (ibid.:
5). The migration of Indonesian domestic workers shows impressively
4. Statistics bythe BNP2TKI (2013).
6 7
Followt he Maid Introduction
that migrants do not 'flow' (Xiang 2008: 175 ), that labour mobilisation of lndonesian domestic workers in Malaysia, this means that they are
always also involves moments of immobilisation, and that globalisa hound to their employers for a standard period of two years, and in
tion has not brought about the demise of the nation-state. Quite the this context 'bonded labour' emerges as a useful Jens through which to
contrary: domestic worker migration from Indonesia is regulated by analyse processes oflabour (im)mobilisation.
law and governed by a whole array of actors, state and non-state, within Because of temporary contract-worker programmes, most domestic
and beyond Indonesia (see also Lindquist 2017). Through a focus on workers from Indonesia do not settle abroad permanently; rather, they
the practical encounters of global connections, this book reveals the migrate again and again - or 'on and on', from one destination to the
moral, social, economic and legal processes bywhich Indonesian village next (Liebelt 2008). The fact that most transnational domestic workers
women are turned into maids - and ultimately sheds light on the making migrate 'again and again' mitigates some of the criticism which has been
of a transnational working class, including the struggles, negotiations voiced of the anthropology of migration. It has been argued that there
has been a tendency to over-emphasise the importance of 'mobility'
and ambivalences involved in the process.
(Hage 2005). While it is certainly questionable how much people
who have permanently settled in a different country are shaped by this
Migrant temporalities
one-time move, the migrant women who are at the heart of this book
Focusing on the processo f migration for domestic work involves taking
usually migra te more than once in their lives, they are kept from perma
into account not only a spatial but also a temporal dimension. Time is,
nently settling abroad, and the process of migration itself involves more
indeed, a key element in the legal regulation of migration, as visas and
and lasts significantly longer than simply taking a plane. The migration
residence permits always tend to be bound to a particular temporal limit
journey is made of various moments involving different temporalities
( Cwerner 2001 ). Considering temporality as a key dimension of migra
( see Griffiths, Rogers and Anderson 2013). These include the time
tion allows us to take seriously the fact that many migrants across the
before departure with its sense of urgency; the long days of waiting in
globe move temporarily. The temporaryn ature of labour migration in
transit; the rushed transfer to foreign employers; getting through the
Asia is one ofits most defining features (Xiang, Yeoh and Toyota 2013 ),
two-years of the work contract; and the anticipation of return. Thus,
and Indonesian migrant domestic workers are both encouraged to leave
time is an important aspect of the migrant experience. As far as the
and to return to Indonesia at the end of their work con tracts ( Constable
migrants themselves are concerned, there is also a right (and a wrong)
2014). In the context ofneoliberal globalisation, state-sanctioned, short
time to migrate, and this is closely linked to women migrants' lifecycles.
term contract-worker programmes like the ones sending Indonesian
women abroad as domestic workers have become increasingly popular,
The makingo f the maid
especially in Asia (Rodriguez 2010; Xiang, Yeoh and Toyota 2013).
As Robyn Rodriguez has argued, such temporary contract-worker Open the website of any so-called 'maid agency' in Malaysia, Hong
programmes have, more and more, corne to be seen by governments Kong or Singapore and you will see dozens of'biodata' profiles showing
and international organisations 'as the solution to the contradictions portraits of young Indonesian women in complete uniforms sporting
between global labour demand and immigration restriction' (Rodriguez identical haircuts, holding their hands in front of them, and always
2010, xxxiii). In these programmes, entry is predicated upon compul smiling. Along with these carefully designed pictures, employers can
sory return, and most receiving states in Asia have implemented strict read the women's profiles. The standardised photographs underline the
temporary migration regimes or so-called 'no return, no entry' policies focus on the labouring body and contribute to the idea that choosing
(Xiang 2013: 2; Xiang 2014a). At the same time, migrants are also kept a domestic worker is a matter of physical measurements - apart from
from returning beforet heir work contracts expire; return is compulsory, these, it is suggested, domestic workers are ail the same, and thus easily
but its timing is also strictly defined by the work contract. In the case replaceable.
9
8
Followt he Maid Introduction
However, the process of becoming a maid does not take place over rcpresent women's bodies as 'passive objects of violence' (Andrijasevic
night, and maid agencies emphasise the training that prospective domes 2007: 41), and ironically they are often used to exert tighter control
tic workers must undergo in their home country. The Malaysian maid Dvcr migrant women in the name of protection (ibid.). The figure of the
agency Philimore Maids puts the following advertising on its website: victim is a depoliticised one, mobilised by different actors in a humani
'We believe in developing quality maids. We train the maids in all house t.1rian discourse which calls for protection (Lindquist 2013: 137; Hess
hold activities such as cooking, cleaning or ironing. Most important is 2005 ). It is precisely the representation of migrant women as potential
mental training'. victims that is used to justify their confinement in camps in Indonesia,
From the training that Indonesian village women have to undergo in for example, as domestic-worker training is presented as a key strategy
order to become 'quality maids' to contracts that produce a very specific to combat women's abuse abroad (Robinson 2000 ).
employment relationship by forcing migrant women to live-in with their As Annuska Derks has noted, in the public debate about scandalous
Malaysian employers, I focus on the process of what Lenore Lyons has cases of migrants' abuse concepts such as 'forced migration', 'slavery'
called 'the making of the maid' (Lyons 2005). The migrant domestic ,111'dtr afficking' have been widely- and often interchangeably- used to
workers at the heart of this book have grown up in an upland Javanese dcnote various degrees of coercion, exploitation, and violence (Derks
society, a society that is known to be less stratified than lowland Java 2010a). In contrast, I describe the workings oflabour control through
(Hefner 1990). In Kalembah, as I have called their village, women have the mobilisation and immobilisation of labour at different stages of
traditionally worked on the local tea plantation, they inherit as much the migration process in ethnographie detail and trace the genealogies
land as their brothers, and after marriage husbands 'follow' their wives, of the contemporary migration regime to colonial indentured labour
in line with the norm of uxorilocal residence. Despite maid agencies' (Killias 2010; see also Lê 2010). In particular, I show how Malaysian
representations of Javanese women as naturally docile and submis immigration laws backup terms and conditions of the work con tract by
sive, there is nothing about these women that makes them 'naturally' providing employers with instruments of control otherwise not avail
suited for employment in domestic work. By revealing how much work able (Derks 2010; Killias 2010 ). In contrast to the modernist assump
is invested in the making of domestic workers who correspond to the tion that contracts necessarilyb ring about better working conditions
(assumed) expectations of middle-class employers, I examine the im for women in paid domestic service (Mendez 1998), I thus show how
plications of the recruitment and placement process on contemporary contracts are used to immobilise and subordinate labour (Killias 2010;
domestic labour in Asia. see also Steinberg 2003; Lan 2007). In doing this, I develop a critical
understanding of the control of mobility and its discursive legitimisa
Traffickingv ictims,c riminal brokers tion which draws on insights from critical migration studies ( e.g. De
Genova, Mezzadra & Pickles 2015). In other words, I do not seek to
In 2014, TIME magazine named Erwiana Sulistyaningsih an 'icon' and
daim that instances of abuse and exploitation do not occur, or that they
one of its '100 Most Influential People in the World'. Erwiana Sulistya
are not worthy of our attention. Rather, and in line with Sabine Hess
ningsih, a young Indonesian woman, started to work as a domestic
( 2005: 13), I believe that the ubiquity of images focusing on extreme
worker in Hong Kong in 2013, where she suffered terrible mental and
cases of physical and sexual abuse tends to be instrumentalised to
physical abuse at the hands ofher employer. Images ofher bruised body
legitimise the control of migrant women, and to trivialise the power
circulated worldwide, while Erwiana awaited her employer's trial to con
relations involved in the 'normal; everyday labour arrangements of
front her with charges. Both within Indonesia and beyond, media rep
migrant domestic workers.
resentations of migrant domestic workers have focused on scandalous
In public debates about migration, the figure of the migrant victim
cases of physical and sexual abuse, circulating images ofbattered bodies
is often opposed to another familiar trope which deserves to be prob-
both on- and offline (Ford 2003: 33; see also Ford 2002). Such images
10 11