Negotiating Citizenship Pekerja Migran Indonesia (PMI) tidak Berdokumen di Kampung Lembah Menara Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dewi Sulistyowati, Dr. Subando Agus Margono, M.Si

2026 | Tesis | S2 Administrasi Publik

Ketiadaan dokumen keimigrasian menempatkan Pekerja Migran Indonesia (PMI) tidak berdokumen pada posisi rentan. Penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis bagaimana PMI tidak berdokumen di Kampug Lembah Menara Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia menegosiasikan kewargaan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari melalui hak sosial, politik dan ekonomi dengan menghubungkan keterbatasan kewargaan formal dengan praktik lived citizenship dan negotiating citizenship. Penelitian menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan fenomenologi, data dikumpulkan dari 14 informan, terdiri atas 10 PMI tidak berdokumen, 3 informan kunci dan 1 informan institusional dari KBRI Kuala Lumpur, melalui wawancara, observasi serta dokumentasi lalu dianalisis mengikuti model spiral analisis fenomenologis dengan bantuan NVivo. 

Temuan menunjukkan hak politik yang diperjuangkan bukanlah hak suara, melainkan hak untuk tetap hadir yang dinegosiasikan melalui penguasaan taktis jalan tikus, ketidakterlihatan diri yang disengaja, pemakaian SPLP sebagai dokumen identitas de facto, jaringan peringatan dini berbasis Whatsapp, hingga negosiasi langsung dengan aparat. Hak sosial ditopang infrastruktur sosial alternatif berupa surau, sanggar bimbingan, klinik swasta yang menerima SPLP dan kekerabatan semu, serta negosiasi berlapis lintas yurisdiksi yang melibatkan komunitas, tokoh masyarakat dan paguyuban, KBRI dan Pemerintah Daerah.  Hak ekonomi dinegosiasikan melalui warung tanpa papan, arisan, remitansi informal berbasis perantara kepercayaan, praktik titip beli dan reputasi yang menggantikan agunan. Penelitian ini menegaskan bahwa kewargaan merupakan proses yang terus diproduksi, dijalani dan dinegosiasikan. Temuan ini memperluas perspektif lived citizenship dan negotiating citizenship dalam konteks PMI tidak berdokumen, serta menunjukkan perlunya tata kelola perlindungan PMI dan kebijakan migrasi yang mengakui realitas praktik kewargaan informal. 

The absence of immigration documents places undocumented Indonesian Migrant Workers in a highly vulnerable position. This study aims to analyze how undocumented Indonesian Migrant Workers in Kampung Lembah Menara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, negotiate citizenship in their everyday lives through social, political, and economic rights. It connects the limitations of formal citizenship with the practices of lived citizenship and negotiating citizenship. Employing a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach, data were collected from 14 informants, comprising 10 undocumented Indonesian migant workers, 3 key informants, and 1 institutional informant from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Kuala Lumpur. Data gathering was conducted through in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation, which were subsequently analyzed using a phenomenological data analysis spiral with the assistance of NVivo software.

The findings reveal that the political rights advocated for are not electoral rights, but rather the right to remain present. This spatial presence is negotiated through the tactical mastery of clandestine routes, strategic invisibility, the use of Surat Perjalanan Laksana Paspor (SPLP) as a de facto identity document, WhatsApp based early warning networks, and direct negotiations with authorities. Social rights are sustained by alternative social infrastructures, including surau (prayer rooms), community learning centers, private clinics that accept SPLP, and fictive kinship. Furthermore, these rights are supported by multi-layered, cross-jurisdictional negotiations involving the migrant community, community leaders, hometown associations, the Indonesian Embassy, and local governments. Economic rights are negotiated through unmarked stalls, rotating savings and credit associations, informal remittances utilizing trusted intermediaries, proxy purchasing practices, and the utilization of reputation in place of financial collateral. This study asserts that citizenship is an ongoing process that is continuously produced, lived, and negotiated. These findings broaden the perspectives of lived citizenship and negotiating citizenship within the context of undocumented Indonesian Migrant Workers and underscore the necessity for migrant worker protection governance and migration policies that recognize the reality of informal citizenship practices.

Kata Kunci : Negotiating citizenship, lived citizenship, migran tidak berdokumen, hak politik, hak sosial, hak ekonomi, undocumented migrant, political rights, social rights, economic rights