Indonesian Migrant Workers in Taiwan: The State Dilemma and People’s Realities

The role of migrant workers is frequently marginalised amid industrial development, labour shortages, and the domination of state to state arrangements. In fact, the position of migrant workers should be considered as a primary factor in bilateral relations and trade agreements, notably between Indonesia and Taiwan. The reason is that the influx of migrant workers has undoubtedly given many benefits to both Indonesia and Taiwan governments. Nevertheless, based on empirical data, Indonesian migrant workers have own perspectives on the position as both Indonesian citizen as well as foreigner in Taiwan vis-à-vis Indonesia-Taiwan economic relationship. As a non-state actor, they have translated the actual relationship between Indonesia and Taiwan in their daily lives, even via activities never imagined before. The people’s realities experienced by Indonesian workers in Taiwan are far beyond the constraints implied by the state dilemma in Indonesia-Taiwan relations. This paper represents a qualitative research supplemented by information obtained from interviews with Indonesian workers in Taiwan. The authors also intensively contacted and involved through activities with Indonesian workers and communities. Therefore, this article is divided into six parts namely, introduction, the state dilemma and people’s realities, migration of Indonesian workers to Taiwan, people’s realities: “unemployed at home” to “cohered with Taiwanese”, obstacles and opportunities, and concluding remarks.補正完