Indonesia's Overseas Labour Migration Programme, 1969-2010

In Indonesia's Overseas Labour Migration Programme, 1969-2010, Wayne Palmer offers for the first time a detailed, critical analysis of the way in which Indonesia's Overseas Labour Migration Programme is managed and how that fits with other developments within the Indonesian government. Commonly portrayed as a corrupt bunch of officials out to line their own pockets at the expense of migrant workers' welfare, here we are shown that they also make exceptions to rules when the law and political climate are not on their side.

Wayne Palmer used interviews with over 120 officials in six Indonesian provinces and three diplomatic missions in the Asia-Pacific region to understand motivations for corrupt and other illegal behaviour.

Wayne Palmer, Ph.D. (2014), University of Sydney, is a Labour Migration and Human Trafficking Specialist. He has authored academic publications and policy reports on Indonesia's administration of labour migrants and criminal justice response to victims of trafficking inside and outside the country.

"[This book] provides a highly valuable insight into the workings of the structures of power at the state level but also at the different points of departure or transit and in the receiving areas. We come to understand individual discretionary decisions at these different points, which provide us with an awareness of the multiple scales one has to examine for a comprehensive understanding. [...] This study helps to sharpen our analysis of the migration industry. It also encourages us to reflect on the strategic alliances that need to be formed in the campaign to protect migrant workers."
– Ratna Saptari, Leiden University, in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 174 (2018), p. 291–362.