Stories of Indonesian Migrant Worker Returnees Living in Greater Jakarta by Kilim Park BA(Hons)

217 Pages·2017·2.45 MB·English

Kisah Sukses: Stories of Indonesian Migrant Worker Returnees Living in Greater Jakarta
by
Kilim Park

B.A.(Hons), The University of British Columbia, 2005
M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2007

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES
(Interdisciplinary Studies)
[History / Geography / Southeast Asian Studies]

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
(Vancouver)

April 2018

© Kilim Park, 2018
Abstract

Based on interviews with Indonesian women migrant workers and informed by their experience
living in Greater Jakarta, this dissertation explores how migrant worker returnees view their
work experience overseas and how their lives in Asian urbanc entres affected their life back in
the Indonesian urban centre. It focuses on their relationships with the complex notions of “city,”
that reflect the returnee women’s attachment to “home,” and their desire to build it in a new
space where they have settled. The dissertation also seeks to unfold how the city is represented
through their experiences. In telling the stories of the past and present, the women shared their
written works, documentary films, and their everyday life experiences to provide a more nuanced
understanding of “migration” and “migrant workers.” The dissertation explores the returnee
women’s interpretations of “Jakarta” and “Indonesia,” notions of return, and the idea of an
emotionscape.

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Lay Summary

This dissertation considers Indonesia in looking at the experience of migrant women workers’
return in their labour migration, and using the return experience to understand the Indonesian
women and culture. The stories told by the Indonesian returnee women help shape the concept of
return and “home” and contribute to the understanding of transnational migrant lives. The
research was built from interviews with returnee women and their stories of work overseas, the
return process, and their new lives in Greater Jakarta. The interviewees had a number of diverse
occupations, including an office worker, a writer, an activist, and a filmmaker.
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Preface

This dissertation is an original intellectual product of the author, Kilim Park. The fieldwork was
covered by UBC Ethics Certificate number H15-01482.

Introduction. A version of this material has been published in Park, Kilim. 2016. “Research
Report: No Longer a ‘Damsel in Distress’: Indonesian Migrant Returnee Women Living in
Jakarta.” Migration, Mobility, & Displacement 2 (1): 90-99.

Note on style:
1. Most words in Bahasa Indonesia have been italicized. Salutations (Ibu, Mbak, Pak),
acronyms and geographical names are not italicized. Translations are my own, placed in
brackets in-text and separated by a line for long quotes.
2. Indonesians do not have given names and family names. For Indonesian authors, I have
treated first names as family names. For well-known authors whose second names have been
used in the academia as their family names, I have followed the convention.
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Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii
Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................... iii
Preface ........................................................................................................................................... iv
Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................................v
List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. viii
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix
List of Abbreviations .....................................................................................................................x
Glossary ........................................................................................................................................ xi
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... xii
Dedication ................................................................................................................................... xiv
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................1
1.1 Encountering a “Migrant Worker” and Locating a “Returnee” ...................................... 4
1.2 Tracing the Indonesian Female Domestic Workers’ Migration ..................................... 9
1.3 The Storytellers ............................................................................................................. 18
1.3.1 Friends................................................................................................................... 19
1.3.2 Creators ................................................................................................................. 21
1.3.3 Activists ................................................................................................................ 24
1.4 “Jakarta”: Backdrop and Protagonist ............................................................................ 27
1.5 No Longer a Damsel in Distress ................................................................................... 29
Chapter 2: Methodology ..............................................................................................................32
2.1 Introduction: Being Ethical in Their Own Terms ......................................................... 34
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2.2 Relationship-Building in the Indonesian Context: Reflections on Feminist and Urban
Ethnography in the Field ........................................................................................................... 45
2.3 Interviews ...................................................................................................................... 49
2.4 Oral Storytelling as a Method ....................................................................................... 53
2.5 Telling Stories: Relationship-Building and the “Emotionscape” in Social and
Political Spaces ......................................................................................................................... 57
Chapter 3: Jakarta .......................................................................................................................62
3.1 Kampung ....................................................................................................................... 66
3.2 Kos ................................................................................................................................ 71
3.3 “Jakarta” ........................................................................................................................ 74
3.4 Transportation and Traffic: Safety in a Gendered City ................................................ 78
3.5 Rain and Flood .............................................................................................................. 87
3.6 Night ............................................................................................................................. 90
3.7 Place-making in Jakarta: Resisting and Manipulating Capitalism ............................... 93
3.8 Understanding Jakarta ................................................................................................... 98
Chapter 4: Pulang (To Return Home) .....................................................................................100
4.1 Air/Ports as the Sites of Return ................................................................................... 109
4.2 Pulang: Dreaming of a Return Home to a Family ...................................................... 117
4.3 Pulang, Temporality and Filipina Domestic Workers ................................................ 127
4.4 Why Urban .................................................................................................................. 131
4.5 Mudik and Merantau: the Tradition of Indonesian Sojourn ....................................... 133
Chapter 5: Hati: Migration in the Memory of Indonesian Migrant Worker Returnees as
the “Evidence of Experience” ...................................................................................................137
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5.1 A Writer’s/Worker’s Heart ......................................................................................... 143
5.2 Imagining Indonesia .................................................................................................... 149
5.3 A Mother’s Heart ........................................................................................................ 152
5.4 Imagining a Return to Family ..................................................................................... 156
5.5 Memory and Emotions in the Migrant Worker Experience ........................................ 159
5.6 “Evidence of Experience” ........................................................................................... 165
Chapter 6: Conclusion: Ungovernable Migrants ....................................................................169
6.1 Applying “Returnee” as a Category ............................................................................ 172
6.2 Emotion and Labour ................................................................................................... 174
6.3 Final Words: Coming Together .................................................................................. 176
6.4 Epilogue: Indonesian Migrant Workers in Hong Kong .............................................. 178
Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................185
Appendix .....................................................................................................................................202

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List of Tables
Table 1 Indonesian Migrant Workers Placed Overseas (2011-2016) (Penempatan Tenaga Kerja
Indonesia Tahun 2011 s.d 2016) ................................................................................................... 13

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List of Figures
Figure 1 Twee baboes met Europese kinderen Date 1890-1910. ................................................. 14
Figure 2 Indonesian workers ready to depart. ............................................................................... 14
Figure 3 Mbak Heni on "Satu Indonesia”. .................................................................................... 20
Figure 4 Mbak Efa at the office in Jakarta. ................................................................................... 20
Figure 5 Cover of Ida Raihan’s Cintaku di Negeri Jackie Chan. ................................................. 23
Figure 6 Author meeting Ida Raihan (right) and her mentor, Pipiet Senja (left). ........................ 23
Figure 7 Mbak Ani receiving an award from the former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono. ................................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 8 Mbak Ani filming her son in the living room.. ............................................................... 24
Figure 9 Map of Indonesia. ........................................................................................................... 51
Figure 10 Ciputat on a quiet weekday morning.. .......................................................................... 69
Figure 11 Map of JABODETABEK. ............................................................................................ 80
Figure 12 Near Cawang station. .................................................................................................... 83
Figure 13 Map of Jakarta's sub-districts. ...................................................................................... 86
Figure 14 Ibu Lana’s kampung.. ................................................................................................... 93
Figure 15 Thamrin City, Grand Indonesia, Bundaran HI and Selamat Datang Monument. ........ 96
Figure 16. Map of Greater Jakarta showing Soekarno-Hatta Airport and Tanjung
Priok Port.. .................................................................................................................................. 110
Figure 17. Victoria Park. ............................................................................................................. 180

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List of Abbreviations

BMI Buruh Migran Indonesia: Indonesian migrant workers
BNP2TKI Badan Negara Penempatan dan Perlindungan Tenaga Kerja Indonesia: National
Agency for the Protection and Placement of International Migrant Workers
JABODETABEK An acronym for Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi. Refers to the
Greater Jakarta area.
KTKLN Kartu Tenaga Kerja Luar Negri. Overseas Worker’s Card
Kemlu Kementerian Luar Negeri Indonesia: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Indonesia)
Kemnaker Kementerian Ketenagakerjaan Republik Indonesia: Ministry of Manpower (Indonesia)
TKI Tenaga Kerja Indonesia: Indonesian migrant workers
TKW Tenaga Kerja Wanita: (Indonesian) female migrant workers
PRT Pekerja Rumah Tangga: domestic worker

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