OIL PALM THE IMMIGRATION INDUSTRY AND MORAL PANIC

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OIL PALM THE IMMIGRATION INDUSTRYAND MORAL
PANIC

• Fadzilah Majid Cooke
• Paper presented at the 9th International
  Symposium for Society and Resource Management at
  the University of Natural Resources and Applied
  Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna , 5 9 July 2009

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WHAT THIS PAPER IS ABOUT

• Describes Results of An exploratory study that
• Examines dominant and minority views concerning
  labour migration from Indonesia and the
  Philippines to the state of Sabah, East Malaysia.
• Provides the political and economic context for
  the shaping of such views
• Uses an ethnographic approach in examining such
  views which means privileging the perspectives of
  the group that the researcher works with as an
  initial step in the study of the phenomena of
  migration

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OBJECTIVE

• An exploratory study to gauge the opinion of
  different publics in Sabah for a larger scale
  study to follow on
• the transnationalism of oil palm focussing on the
  nature of social interaction between in and out
  groups and their effects

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METHOD

• A Systematic survey of the English language
  newspaper , the Daily Express, from January 2005
  to January 2009, a paper selected because it does
  not belong to any political party or economic
  interest is Sabah based and focussed
• PURPOSE to extract dominant themes (what) about
  migrant labour and the key players (who)
• B. INTERVIEWS with Sabahan Publics, using the
  themes extracted from the newspapers. Interviews
  lasted from 20 to 25 minutes.

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• SAMPLING purposive sampling of two groups of
  workers because of their having direct experience
  in their economic lives of
• servicing migrants , or of working alongside
  them
• The 2 groups were
• unlicensed taxi drivers in rural areas piret
  17 informants ,
• workers in oil palm plantations - 23
  informants
• ALL IN THE KINABATANGAN AREA, SABAH EAST COAST
• Approach Qualitative, Using Semi Structured and
  Key informant Interviews. Work in Progress.
  Preliminary Findings

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FIELDWORK LOCATION- THE KINABATANGAN
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THE KINABATANGAN DISTRICT

• Located in East Coast Sabah where most of large
  oil palm plantations are found (along the
  Kinabatangan river at Bukit Garam and further
  inland at Sukau)
• In 2000, 73 of the Kinabatangan Population is
  migrant, almost all employed by oil palm estates.
  
• Lahad Datu 34 population is migrant (4th
  highest in Sabah)

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SOME PRELIMINARY FINDINGS 1

• Newspaper Dominant themes MORAL PANIC
• Migrant workers as demons illegals,
  opportunists, crime prone
• Opprtunists Overstay their permits, buy fake
  Identity cards try to become citizens then
  apply for land rights under customary land bring
  their families or breed profusely
• Crime prone drugs
• Filipino refugees and Syabu are the same UPKO
  (Daily Express 25.08.05 1)
• Sabah demography is fast changing, a feeling of
  being swamped by migrants
• Migrants overtaxing health, educational services
  and infrastructure facilities through illegal use
  of electricity, water (usually without paying
  dues)

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FINDINGS 2

• If not deported, migrants will take over many
  aspects of economic and social life.
• WHO ARE THE MAJOR SHAPERS OF VIEWS CONCERNING
  MORAL PANIC?
• An element of Sabahan (not federal) political
  leadership
• Some Sabahan non government organisations- e.g.
  Consumer Association of Sabah
• An element of Sabah Suhakam (The Malaysian Human
  Rights Commission)

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FINDINGS 3

• MINORITY VIEWS (given less prominence in
  newspapers)
• Estate/plantation construction and restaurant
  sectors of the Sabahan economy dependent on
  migrant labour.
• Migrants have rights as workers
• Stateless children and street kids are not
  criminals, wedlock, responsibility of the
  nation
• WHO HOLD THESE VIEWS
• Some employer associations (but they change their
  minds often)- e.g. Sabah United Chinese Chamber
  of Commerce
• Some NGOs e.g. Yayasan Islam
• Some politicians whose electorates are
  overwhelmingly migrant in character e.g.
  Assemblyman for Morotai, Mr. Pang Yuk Min
• Some Federal government ministers

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FINDINGS 4 A THRIVING IMMIGRATION INDUSTRY

• The immigration industry making citizens out
  of non-citizens.
• Produce documents especially Mykad - genuine
  (obtained illegaly from the national registration
  office - NRD). Or fake ones produced by a
  cottage industry
• involves a range of interests business,
  political, bureaucratic/administrative and non
  citizen out groups.
• In 2008 Applicants who have problems in obtaining
  a genuine i.c can get one for RM 18,000
  (Director of the Anti Corruption Agency cited in
  the Daily Express 25 Jan 2008p.1).
• A fake i.c. produced by the cottage industry
  such as the one in at Kg. Hidayat, Milestone 4
  Jalan Apas, Tawau can cost RM 300 each (District
  Police Chief of Tawau cited in the Daily Express
  19 January 20081)

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FINDINGS 5 - PIRET

• WHO ARE THEY?
• Drivers who provide an informal service to
  transport people and things mostly without a
  permit , with or without driving licence,
  insurance or road tax.
• Most drivers tend to be small holder oil palm
  growers themselves, having
• Land ranging from 3 to 15 acres. A few do not
  have land.
• Arose out of the flows of people and things
• Things refer to oil palm Fresh Fruit Bunches
  (FFBs) the urgency of
• getting to mills on time 4 wheel drive
  vehicles owned by small holders for transporting
  their own FFBs to mills
• People refer to plantation workers mostly
  foreign (Indonesian mainly
• Bugis - and to a very small extent, Filipinos)
  working with or without permits or permits that
  have expired. Workers need to shop to visit, to
  organise documents, to go to clinics and
  hospitals.
• .

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FINDINGS 6 PIRET VIEWS OF MIGRANT WORKERS

• Total of 17 respondents , 10 Full time drivers
  and 7 part time
• A range of views
• NOTE AN Indicator of friendship/trust when a
  piret gives his mobile ph. No. to a foreign worker

Full time 10 Part time 7
How many times in a month do you transport foreign workers? 8 daily 2 4x/mth 1 4x/m, 3 8-12x/m, 2 ne, 1 dly
Can you survive economically without them? No 8 No Answer 2 No 1 Yes 6
Have you ever had bad experience when driving them? No All No All
They are mostly criminals, do you agree? Disagree 6 ½ Agree 3 Agree 1 4 2 1
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SOME VIEWS OF MIGRANT WORKERS PIRET

• MIGRANTS AS LEGITIMATE SEEKERS OF ECONOMIC
  IMPROVEMENT
• Saya baru balik dari KL 6 bulan, di tempat orang
  tidak mau cari gadoh. Mereka pun sama tidak mau
  cari gaduh. Saya ada kawan semasa saya kerja
  estet 10 tahun. Kawan tolong buka tanah, saya
  mau bayar tetapi kata mereka yang penting
  persahabatan. (ENCIK LUSLI at Kota
  Kinabatangan taxi stand, Feb 09)
• MIGRANTS AS CRIMINALS
• Disagree (10/17)
• Tidak boleh kata orang asing yang punca jenayah.
  Kadang kadang orang kita pun boleh kacau. Mereka
  pun boleh berfikir. Kalau semua penjenayah yang
  ada disini sekarang pun jahat lah tapi maseh
  boleh bersemuka, kalau penjenayah sudah lari
  semua kami (ENCIK AMAT AT Kota Kinabatangan taxi
  stand, Feb 09).
• E.g. of ½ Agree (5/17)
• Orang kampung pun pandai cari gadoh juga. Tapi
  dia orang stail lain, dia orang tidak sedar dia
  ditempat orang. Tidak semua dalam 10 ada 3.
• (Encik Alimi , Kota Kinabatangan taxi stand, Feb
  09)
• E.g of Agree (1/17)
• Setuju, Kalau di TV kebanyakkan pendatang buat
  kacau. Orang Malaysia jarang berlaku. Kes bunuh
  di Borneon , orang kita tidak bunuh
• (Encik Sinamin, Kota Kinabatangan taxi stand, Feb
  09).

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FINDINGS 7 - PLANTATION WORKERS

• 23 informants
• 1 in management, 9 mandor (block supervisors), 4
  labourers, 2 office workers
• 2 carpenters, 1 each of road/infrastructure
  supervisor, livestock worker, security guard,
  security officer, security guard and despatcher.
• Men 19, Women 4 (3 mandor loose fruit and
  1 office cleaner)
• Range from 8 months to 25 years of service

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SABAHAN WORKERS - VIEWS OF MIGRANT CO WORKERS
Can you achieve your work objectives if you dont have migrant co-workers No 13/21
Do you agree that they are all criminals? 9 Disagree 7 Agree 2 ½ agree
Have you personally experienced problems at work with migrant co workers No
Do you have friends who are migrant workers Yes 70 (gitu sahaja)
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ANALYSIS 1 - A NOTE ON ILLEGALITY

• In 2005, plantations in Sabah employed 79,549
  foreign nationals 73 of them in the
  Kinabatangan. They are a second factor
  contributing to the sustaining of the informal
  transport industry.
• In 2005, total no. of foreign workers in Sabah
  102,265 (Dept. of Immigration statistics 2007)
• In 2008, estimated no. of foreign workers was
  360,00 (Dayag Suria 2008)
• Working without documentation of documentation
  expired illegal - estimated 130, 000 (close
  to one third could be higher).

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ANALYSIS 2 NOTE ON ILLEGALITY (CONTD)

• The border between legality and illegality is
  fluid. Many workers enter the country with valid
  documents, but become illegal when overstaying
  (Wong 2005) or when Immigration rules change
  (Hilsdon 2008).
• Wong (2005) 46 of migrants sampled in her study
  originlly entered legally.
• Many enter illegally recruited by licensed
  businesses as staging points for entry into
  Peninsula Malaysia through fake Identity cards.

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• Piret tend to Question official treatment of
  migrants.
• They often have direct experience of the
  immigration industry at road blocks or being
  arrested for transporting migrant workers.
  Runding or duit kupi
• Tend to question the view that migrants are
  morally suspect, not to be trusted or are
  criminals. They acknowledge that there are some
  bad elements but have had no direct experience as
  such.
• Plantation workers tend to distinguish between
  migrants who are employed and unemployed. The
  unemployed are the perceived to be trouble
  makers.

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DISCUSSION 1 WHY CREATE MORAL PANIC?

• The political and economic context of
  demonisation
• Federalism Immigration a Federal Issue. Fear
  of Federal agenda
• suspicion of demographic change in Sabah
• THE USEFULNESS OF ILLEGALITY
• 1) Cheap and flexible labour regime
  (Saravanamuttu 2008 )
• 2) The immigration industry Sabah as
  borderland Eric Tagliacozo (2005) a space
  where opportunities are seized by migrants,
  officials in a creative way (Project I.C.,
  runding and duit kupi)
• Opportunities exist because
• Malaysias effort of defining citizenship in
  Sabah (as it is in Sarawak) is problematic
  because many of Sabahs own citizens cannot get
  citizenship (not having the right documents).
• Many bureaucratic errors e.g. where citizens lose
  citizenship because of wrong documentation.

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USEFULNESS OF ILLEGALITY (CONTINUED)

• 4) Documentary citizenship the process through
  which citizenship status is awarded to non
  citizens (Kamal Sadiq 2005). In much of
  political theory documentation has been
  overlooked as an important site for contestation
  and a realm of opportunity for citizens and non
  citizens alike. (Acknowledge WansSha)
• The political aspirant (illegals a viable
  political platform)? (slide )
• The political parties the votes (project I.C.
  - Mutalib 1999
• To Sabahan workers provides a basis for
  identifying themselves as different from the
  Other (quotes)
• Diana Wong (2005) on Germany A useful framework
  fo analysing nationalism. In this instance,
  nationalism in Sabah is being fashioned out of a
  sense of siege, of being swamped by foreigners
  who are morally not like us.
• Nationalism and the politicisation of the
  migration issue carefully screens out the complex
  interplay between labour requirements of the
  Sabah plantation and construction sector, and the
  political clutch that migrants provide to many
  political parties through the mobilisation of
  votes at key moments (Mutalib 1999)