Makmur Sunusi, Ph.D Talks about Migrant Worker

The Unsung Heroes went to interview Dr. Makmur Sunusi, Director General for Social Rehabilitation and Services, Ministry of Social Affairs of Indonesia, to ask him about his opinion on some issues related to migration.

The Unsung Heroes: Good morning, Dr. Sunusi.

Makmur Sunusi, Ph.D: Good. morning.

The Unsung Heroes: Let's go straight to the questions. What do you think of sending migrant workers to work overseas?

Makmur Sunusi, Ph.D: It will be very beneficial to the country that sends migrant workers because of the remittance that they receive, which later on adds to their GDP. However, the process of migration, sometimes, will result in various issues in the country they work in, be it their own faults or of a result of blame.

The Unsung Heroes: What do you mean?

Makmur Sunusi, Ph.D: Take Indonesian workers who work in Malaysia for example. Lately, the issue of migrant workers who work illegally in Malaysia and some abuse cases have invited harsh comments from both sides. This is not healthy for both countries' relationship as people started condemning each other for the problems created. What should be done is to implement a better regulation, a memorandum of understanding from both countries to protect the migrants' rights better; to tighten the immigration procedures so as to ease those who want to apply for work pass and to prevent the emergence of illegality and people smuggle.

The Unsung Heroes: So it means that we should not limit the number of people coming in to a certain country?

Makmur Sunusi, Ph.D: That is not true either. The reason why a government wants to limit the number of immigrants is to protect the local labour market from falling wage rate. The more workers come into a country, the more the choice, thus workers have lower bargaining position. It also means that investors can play with the wage rate by decreasing it. If locals only take $1000, for example, to do a certain job; migrants are willing to do it for $500 only. That is the reason why wage drops. Yet, do not worry because economy does adjust. However, it is a trade-off situation. We have to see the real economic context before we can say that we do not need any more immigrants to come. All in all, freer international migration would bring huge economic benefits to the world as a whole because it would redeploy workers to where they are more productive.

The Unsung Heroes: Is there anything that you want to say to our audience about the social issues which emerged because of immigration?

Makmur Sunusi, Ph.D: Certainly. Migration has its own good and bad point. When it is good, we should be grateful for it. But, when it is bad, we have to be careful not to judge the case blindly. In a case where migrant workers commit a crime, for instance, does not mean that all migrant workers do the same thing; which justifies immigration as a result of the increasing crime rates. Immigration is like a two-way street with both immigrants and locals as the lanes. Both lanes have to be tolerant to another. Both have to learn to live together.