Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers: A Dilemma between Regulation and Implementation

Abstract

Indonesia already has a strong legal umbrella to protect migrant workers through Law Number 18 of 2017. Nevertheless, non-procedural migration, human trafficking, and various cases of violence against Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) continue to occur. This is the problem examined here: why good regulation has not been able to protect PMI in the field. This study aims to examine the gap between regulation and its implementation while identifying the variables that cause it. The study was conducted in East Java, the province of origin of the largest number of PMI in Indonesia. From all actors involved in the placement and protection of PMI, eight informants were purposively selected: BP3MI officials, provincial and district manpower offices, placement companies, returned PMI from both procedural and non-procedural pathways, victims' families, and civil society organizations. Data were collected through interviews, observation, and documents, then processed by reducing, presenting, and drawing conclusions, and subsequently read using Van Meter and Van Horn's six-variable policy implementation model, tested through triangulation. The results show that the root of the problem lies not in the policy's objectives but in the limited resources of local governments, fragmented inter-agency coordination without a single case coordinator, bureaucracy preoccupied with paperwork, and economic pressure that pushes people toward illegal pathways. As a result, the state handles more cases than it prevents. The study concludes that this gap is systemic and demands integrated case services, a strengthened role for villages, simplification of official pathways, and training that genuinely equips PMI with knowledge of their rights.