Labour Migration

The Indonesian government is much more interested in its own citizens abroad than Filipino migrant workers under its nose

Bootleg medicine sales are part of Indonesia’s healthcare infrastructure

Benefits ripple outwards but local government struggles to regulate the process

Mobile libraries and writers clubs reveal a rich reading and writing culture among Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong

Village morality complicates our assumptions about what it means to ‘succeed’ as a migrant worker

A recent visit to Ambon shows that trade is helping to bridge the divide in a religiously segregated society

Former migrant workers are finding new empowerment in the bureaucratic jungle of legal aid

Returned migrant workers have much to offer, but have trouble achieving recognition for the skills they’ve developed abroad

Pocket money given to intending migrant domestic workers comes at a price

Indonesian migrant workers without visas - or sometimes even passports - rely on the help of middlemen to get past immigration checkpoints into East Malaysia

Migrant domestic workers aspire to more than their home communities can offer and are willing to take risks to change their lives

Undocumented Indonesian migrant labourers - known locally as kuli dollar - work long hours in difficult conditions in search of prosperity in Philadelphia

Despite recent government negotiations, Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia remain disempowered

Indonesian fishers in Taiwan are beginning to fight back

As this edition shows, the choices faced by those who leave Indonesia for work are anything but simple

Against the odds, Indonesian domestic workers have achieved real change in Hong Kong

Special autonomy and Papuan aspirations have been thwarted by Jakarta and hampered by the administrative fragmentation sponsored by local politicians

BP’s massive LNG project is due to begin operations in late 2008, despite social and environmental costs

Papuan footballers score goals against HIV.

Migrants from South Sulawesi have played an important role in manufacturing a Papuan identity