Work-life Experiences of Circulating Filipino Irregular Migrants in Sabah, Malaysia: An Exploratory Study

Authors

  • Teresita Ibarra Taberdo

Keywords:

borders, circulation, irregular migrants, livelihoods

Abstract

The long history of economic and cultural exchange and common access to the maritime resources of the Sulu-Sulawesi seascape had allowed social groups around this territory to crisscross porous borders. This continued until the surrounding nation-states declared independence and sovereignty over territories in the first half of the 20th century; rendering these centuries-old border crossings subject to state laws and policies. Against this backdrop of changed socio-political and legal systems, why do people undertake perilous border-crossings? This paper presents an exploratory descriptive study of irregular migrants in Sabah, Malaysia from Southern Palawan, Philippines.  It explores the economic and socio-cultural context of their home origins, their motivations, their lived experiences in host country and decisions to go home or come back. In addition, it explores the concept of circular migration characterising the irregular migrants’ movement as a strategy towards sustaining livelihoods. The paper used qualitative data from a coastal barangay using survey of households’ profile, semi-structured interviews of individual cases, key informants and observations. Interview data showed that irregular migrants’ decision to migrate had the family’s welfare at the centre of aspirations and such movements were either encouraged or facilitated by contacts in host country. Lacking proper documents, data showed majority of case migrants experienced difficulties in mobility and sanctions related to their irregular status but this did not deter some to come back.

References

Aguilar, F.V. Jr. (2014). Migration revolution: Philippine nationhood and class relations in a globalized age. Ateneo de Manila Press.

https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1qv2sw

Azizah Kassim, (2009). Filipino refugees in Sabah: State responses, public stereotypes and the dilemma over their futures. Southeast Asian Studies Journal, 47(1), 52-88.

Azizah Kassim and Mat Zin, R. Hj. (2011). Irregular Migrants and the Law. Philippine Journal of Development 1st & 2nd Sems Vol XXXVIII Nos. 1&2, 85-104 https://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/webportal/CDN/PUBLICATIONS/pidspjd11-malaysia.pdf

Balisi, A.J. (2000). Panandayuhan at pag-angkop: Ang usapin ng mga Bajau sa Malawani Is., Basilan. Diliman Review, 48(3), 1-12.

https://www.academia.edu/3997125/Panandayuhan_at_Pag_angkop_Ang_Usapin_ng_mga_Bajau_sa_Malamawi_Is_Basilan

Bakewell, O. (2014). Relaunching Migration Systems. Migration Studies, 2(3), 300-318.

https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnt023

Barangay Rio Tuba, Bataraza (2014). Actual Household Survey.

Bracamonte, N.L. (2005). Evolving a development framework for the Sama Dilaut in an urban center in Southern Philippines. Borneo Research Bulletin, 36, 185-199.

Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B.M., Golberger, N. R. & Tamle J.M. (1986). Women's Ways of Knowing. New York: Basic Books .

Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) (1987). The Labour Trade: Filipino Migrant Workers Around the World: London, UK: CIIR.

Chapman, M. and Prothero, R.M. (1985). Circulation between 'home' and other places: some propositions. In Chapman, M. and Prothero, R.M. (Eds.) Circulation in Population Movement (Routledge Revivals): Substance and concepts from the Melanesian case (pp.1-21). eBook Published 5 September 2013. Imprint Routledge. DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203118481

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203118481

Chew, A. (2013, March 22). Porous borders leave Sabah open to invaders. Aljazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2013/3/22/porous-borders-leave-sabah-open-to-invaders

Department of Statistics Malaysia (November 7, 20020. https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=home/index

Eder, J. (2010). Muslim Palawan: Diversity and Difference on the Periphery of Philippine Islam. Philippine Studies, 58(3), 407-420. Ateneo de Manila University. http://www.philippinestudies.net

Guerreo, S.H. (Ed.) (1997). Feminist Research Experiences: A Casebook. University of the Philippines, Center for Women's Studies.

Hagen-Zanker, J., Mallett, R., Ghimire, A., Ali Shah, Q., Upreti, B., & Haider, A. (2014, October). Migration from the margins: Mobility, vulnerability in mid-western Nepal and north-western Pakistan. Researching livelihoods and services affected by conflict Report 5, 1-53.

https://www.academia.edu/8748661/Migration_from_the_margins_mobility_vulnerability_and_inevitability_in_mid_western_Nepal_and_north_western_Pakistan

Hassan, A.J. (1978). Characteristics of backdoor migrants to Sabah, Malaysia from the Philippines: the case of two island communities of Tawi-Tawi, Mindanao. Mindanao Journal, 5, 98-119.

Ibarra-Taberdo, T. (2008): Negotiating gender, culture and religion in marriage and family life transitions: Herstories of 14 Maranao Muslim Women, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.

Ibarra-Taberdo, T. & Lumayag, L.A. (2014). Livelihood un/sustainability and ecological perspectives among migrant fishers in Southern Palawan coastal communities. Paper Read at the 7th International Seminar on Maritime Culture and Geopolitics, Institute of Postgraduate studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Nov. 4-5.

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990.

International Organization for Migration Global Migration Data Analysis Centre. https://gmdac.iom.int/global-migration-indicators-2018-0

International Organization for Migration (2019). IOM Glossary on Migration: Switzerland. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/iml_34_glossary.pdf

Kaur, A. (2004). Crossing frontiers: Race, migration and border control in Southeast Asia. International Journal of Multicultural Societies (IMJS), 6(2), 202-223.

Lai, N. (2019, Nov.21). 140,000 holders of IMM13, Kad Bancian and Pas Burung Burung, Borneo Post Online. https://www.theborneopost.com/2019/11/21/140000-holders-of-imm13-kad-bancian-and-pas-burung-burung/

Lumayag, L.A. (2016). A question of access: Education needs of undocumented children in Malaysia. Asian Studies Review, 40(2), 192-210. DOI:10.1080/10357823.2016.1158238

https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2016.1158238

Lumayag, L.A. et al. Sustainable Livelihood Practices, Immigration and Ecological Responsibilities in Coastal Communities: Case Studies from Sabah, Malaysia and Mindanao, Philippines, University Malaya Research Grant (UMRG) RP017B-13SBS for December 2013- December 2014.

Malaysia Immigration Act 1959/63, Act 155, Incorporating all amendments up to January 2006.

McDowell, C. & de Haan, A. (1997). Migration and sustainable livelihoods: A critical review of the literature. IDS Working Paper 65, 1-29.https://www.ids.ac.uk/download.php?file=files/dmfile/Wp65.pdfhttps://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/3369/Wp65.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowedy

Philippine National Statistics Office, 2010 Census of Population and Housing, Manila, Philippines

Opiniano, J.M. (2007). International migration: Issues and steps towards harmonising the data. 10th International convention on statistics (NCS), Shangrila Hotel, Metro Manila. October 1-7.

Perez, A.E. and Patacsil, P.C. (compilers) (1998). Philippine Migration Studies; An Annotated Bibliography: Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines: Philippine Migration Research Network/ Philippine Social Science Council.

Pertierra, R. (Ed.)(1992). Remittances and returnees: The cultural economy of migration in Ilocos. New Day Publishers.

Pitlo III, Lucio Blanco (2013, May 29). The Philippine-Malaysian Sabah Dispute. Sharnoff's Global Views. https://www.sharnoffsglobalviews.com/philippine-sabah-085/

Plummer, K. (1983). Documents of life: An introduction to the problems and literature of a humanistic method. George Allen & Unwin.

Silverman, D. (1993). Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analyzing talk, text and interaction. Sage.

Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory, procedures and techniques. Sage.

Tajari, A. & Affendi, N. (2015) Illegal Immigrant and Security Crisis In Sabah (Malaysia). Proceeding of the International Conference on Social Science Research, ICSSR 2015. 8 & 9 Jun 2015, Meliá Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hlm 1-13.

Tim, M. (2001). Social research: issues, methods and process (3rd ed). Open University Press.

Ubac, Michael Lim (2014, January 24). Abuse of Filipino 'illegals' in Sabah probed. Philippine Daily Inquirer. https://globalnation.inquirer.net/97535/abuse-of-filipino-illegals-in-sabah-probed

UNHCR/Asia Pacific (2016, March 16). 'Refugees' and 'Migrants'- FAQs. http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2016/3/56e95c676/refugees-migrants-frequently-asked-questions-faqs.html

WSW Hassan, M.A. Omar, & R.Dollah (2010). The illegal immigrants in Sabah: Why do they come back? Borneo Research Journal, 4, 115-128.

Warren, J.F. (2000). The global economy and the Sulu zone: Connections, commodities and culture. New Day Publishers (Phil. Ed.). January 1.

World Bank & Food and Agriculture Organization (2009). Sunken billions: The economic justification for fisheries reform. WB Publications: The WB no. 2596. June.

https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-7790-1

World Bank. n.d. World Development Indicators Database / Malaysia Country Profile. https://databank.worldbank.org/views/reports/reportwidget.aspx?Report_Name=CountryProfile&Id=b450fd57&tbar=y&dd=y&inf=n&zm=n&country=MYS

World Migration Report [MWR] 2010: The future of migration: Building capacities for change. Switzerland: International Organization for Migration: 295 pp. http://www.iom.int

Downloads

Published

2021-06-30

How to Cite

Taberdo, T. I. . (2021). Work-life Experiences of Circulating Filipino Irregular Migrants in Sabah, Malaysia: An Exploratory Study . Journal of Borneo-Kalimantan, 7(1), 35–52. Retrieved from https://publisher.unimas.my/ojs/index.php/BJK/article/view/3591

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2021): Journal of Borneo Kalimantan

Section

Articles

License

  1. Copyright Transfer Statement for Journal

    1) In signing this statement, the author(s) grant UNIMAS Publisher an exclusive license to publish their original research papers. The author(s) also grant UNIMAS Publisher permission to reproduce, recreate, translate, extract or summarize, and to distribute and display in any forms, formats, and media. The author(s) can reuse their papers in their future printed work without first requiring permission from UNIMAS Publisher, provided that the author(s) acknowledge and reference publication in the Journal.

    2) For open access articles, the author(s) agree that their articles published under UNIMAS Publisher are distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work of the author(s) is properly cited.

    3) For subscription articles, the author(s) agree that UNIMAS Publisher holds copyright, or an exclusive license to publish. Readers or users may view, download, print, and copy the content, for academic purposes, subject to the following conditions of use: (a) any reuse of materials is subject to permission from UNIMAS Publisher; (b) archived materials may only be used for academic research; (c) archived materials may not be used for commercial purposes, which include but not limited to monetary compensation by means of sale, resale, license, transfer of copyright, loan, etc.; and (d) archived materials may not be re-published in any part, either in print or online.

    4) The author(s) is/are responsible to ensure his or her or their submitted work is original and does not infringe any existing copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, or propriety right of others. Corresponding author(s) has (have) obtained permission from all co-authors prior to submission to the journal. Upon submission of the manuscript, the author(s) agree that no similar work has been or will be submitted or published elsewhere in any language. If submitted manuscript includes materials from others, the authors have obtained the permission from the copyright owners.

    5) In signing this statement, the author(s) declare(s) that the researches in which they have conducted are in compliance with the current laws of the respective country and UNIMAS Journal Publication Ethics Policy. Any experimentation or research involving human or the use of animal samples must obtain approval from Human or Animal Ethics Committee in their respective institutions. The author(s) agree and understand that UNIMAS Publisher is not responsible for any compensational claims or failure caused by the author(s) in fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. The author(s) must accept the responsibility for releasing their materials upon request by Chief Editor or UNIMAS Publisher.

    6) The author(s) should have participated sufficiently in the work and ensured the appropriateness of the content of the article. The author(s) should also agree that he or she has no commercial attachments (e.g. patent or license arrangement, equity interest, consultancies, etc.) that might pose any conflict of interest with the submitted manuscript. The author(s) also agree to make any relevant materials and data available upon request by the editor or UNIMAS Publisher.