Journal of Social Research & Policy, Vol. 8, Issue 1, July 2017 Suffer to Survive: The Indonesian Illegal Workers Experiences in Malaysia and Japan ALI MAKSUM 1 Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta SURWANDONO Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta Abstract This article departs from the reality that many Indonesian workers have been sentenced to the court and charged under the immigration act due to illegal work and overstay. Subsequently, Malaysian government, for instance, has made some arrests and mass-deportation, while all illegal workers were prosecuted and sentenced before their deportation. In other words, the illegal worker in Malaysia especially from Indonesia were arrested and treated as a criminal. Interestingly International Organization for Migration (IOM) listed Malaysia as one of the dangerous places for migrant workers. In contrast to this, Japan is one of the country with lowest risk of forced labour. This article urges readers to engage in a reflection on the trend and dynamics of the Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysia and Japan, while the Indonesian government incessantly take advantages from their large remittance. This is a qualitative research supplemented by semi-structured interviews with some key respondents especially who have experiences and expertise on Indonesian illegal workers. Systematically, the discussion of this article is divided into five sections, namely, history of Indonesian migrant workers, Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysia, Indonesian illegal workers in Japan, the struggles and conclusion. The gained empirical data revealed that Indonesian workers have their own perspectives and reasons pertaining the illegal workers’ issues. Keywords: Indonesian; Illegal Workers; Exploitation; Contribution; Malaysia; Japan. Introduction The raise of globalization is a phenomenon, which has made the world become more complex. Global society had witnessed so-called economic interdependence, while the concept itself has also been enlarged and involves non-state actors/transnational. In the liberalism scholars’ point of view, this phenomenon is called as “complex interdependence” (Keohane & Nye, 2001, pp. 20-32). Keohane & Nye (2001) believe that in the complex interdependence, international relations have not emphasized on state-to-state relations per se. People-to-people relations as well as transnational organizations should also take into account as international relations phenomena. Further, the relationships among them were real and hard to control. This is due to the emergence of “multiple channels” (Keohane & Nye, 2001, p. 21) in the globalization era has totally affected the transformation of human relations. People could build their relationship and contact with their partners worldwide beyond the state borders. Migration is one of easy examples of how human movements become free and uncontrolled – including in Malaysia-Indonesia migration phenomena. Migration is often framed as a security problem – a threat to public order, national identity and welfare (Huysmans, 2006) – and irregular migration as a criminal offense (Bigo, 2003; Themistocleous, 2013; Pinyol-Jiménez, 2012). Whereas trade and finance are subjects to global regulation, human mobility is not governed by a formal regime 1 Postal Address: Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Jl. Lingkar Selatan, Tamantirto, Kasihan, Bantul, Yogyakarta Indonesia 55183. E-mail Address: amaksum@gmail.com.