A strategy of attrition through enforcement: the unmaking of irregular migration in Malaysia

This article reviews Malaysia's attempt to achieve zero migration irregularity by focusing on workplace enforcement, and examines how Malaysia's migration control has become a struggle between the state and employers. Applying the framework of "enforcement through attrition", thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Low, Choo Chin (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2017
In:In: Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 36(2017), 2, Seite 101-136
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Summary:This article reviews Malaysia's attempt to achieve zero migration irregularity by focusing on workplace enforcement, and examines how Malaysia's migration control has become a struggle between the state and employers. Applying the framework of "enforcement through attrition", this research examines three newly introduced principles governing workplace enforcement: employer sanctions, the Strict Liability Principle, and the Employers' Mandatory Commitment. The shift to employers in Malaysia's attrition landscape aims to control illegal employment, thereby frustrating the friendly environment to affect migrants' behaviour. The Malaysian experience suggests that increasing legal consequences for employers hiring undocumented workers runs parallel with making them accountable for the welfare of their foreign workers, thus ensuring better protection of migrant rights.