Government Policy in Tackling Illegal Foreign Worker Issues in Indonesia: Complexity, Uncertainty and Divergence

Abstract

The influx of illegal foreign workers to Indonesia is one of the fundamental issues which has become serious concern for the Indonesian government. Debates on the international migration phenomena ccontribute to an increasing number of the illegal foreign workers issue. This qualitative research analyses the foreign worker issues in Indonesia by the document analysis from government policies from 2015 to 2018, organizational reports, and journal articles. This study examines the wickedness of the illegal foreign workers issues in Indonesia based on the Brian Head's wicked problem concept. This study discusses the characteristics of wicked problems: complexity, uncertainty, and divergence in illegal foreign worker issues in Indonesia. The study finds the illegal foreign worker issues in Indonesia are only resolved by the law enforcement taskforce among agencies in relation to collaboration, cooperation and national security. A conceptual framework is proposed the immigration enforcement team is urged to improve the use of technology, citizen participation, interagency partnership, equipment, vehicles and boats. Further research extends the involvement of citizen’s participation and the use of technology in enforcing the immigration law and handling the illegal foreign workers.