Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T18:30:32.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What Are Refugees Represented to Be? A Frame Analysis of the Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016 Concerning the Treatment of Refugees “from Abroad”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2021

Mahardhika Sjamsoe’oed Sadjad
Mahardhika Sjamsoe’oed Sadjad*
Affiliation:
International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016 concerning the Treatment of Refugees (PR) was a promising step to a better humanitarian response for refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Indonesia. It also provided a much-needed legal framework to validate refugees’ presence and to ground civil -society organizations’ advocacy on their behalf. However, a closer look at the PR and earlier drafts of the document shows serious compromises that: (1) reproduce the notion that refugees are only transiting in Indonesia; (2) frame refugees as passive objects, failing to recognize them as subjects with rights; and (3) prioritize security concerns that position refugees at odds with Indonesian society (masyarakat). Using the “What’s the Problem Represented to be” approach, this article highlights what is included and excluded from the PR and how it falls short of guaranteeing meaningful protection for refugees while living in Indonesia.

Keywords

refugeesframe analysisIndonesiaprolonged transithuman rights
Type
Refugees in Indonesia
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , October 2021 , pp. 451 - 466
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andayani, Dwi (2019) “Ada Warga Tolak Pencari Suaka, UNHCR: Umumnya Orang Indonesia Murah Hati,” https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4628393/ada-warga-tolak-pencari-suaka-unhcr-umumnya-orang-indonesia-murah-hati (accessed 25 November 2020).Google Scholar
Bacchi, Carol (2000) “Policy as Discourse: What Does It Mean? Where Does It Get Us?” 21 Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 45–57.Google Scholar
Bacchi, Carol (2012) “Introducing the ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be’,” in Bletsas, A. & Beasley, C., eds., Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic Interventions and Exchanges, Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press, 21–4.Google Scholar
Bigo, Didier (2002) “Security and Immigration: Toward a Critique of the Governmentality of Unease.” 27 Alternatives 63–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bilgic, Ali, Dhami, Mandeep, & Onkal, Dilek (2018) “Toward a Pedagogy for Critical Security Studies: Politics of Migration in the Classroom.” 19 International Studies Perspectives 250–66.Google Scholar
Crawley, Heaven, & Dimitris, Skleparis (2017) “Refugees, Migrants, Neither, Both: Categorical Fetishism and the Politics of Bounding in Europe’s ‘Migration Crisis’.” 4 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 1–17.Google Scholar
Directorate General of Immigration (2018) “Data Pencari Suaka & Pengungsi di Seluruh Indonesia Periode Juni 2018” (Author’s own copy, received at the Office of Directorate General of Immigration, Jakarta, 9 August 2019).Google Scholar
Gasper, Des (2000) Structures and Meanings: A Way to Introduce Argumentation Analysis in Policy Studies Education, Working Paper 317, The Hague: Institute of Social Studies).Google Scholar
Gasper, Des, & Raymond, Apthorpe (1996) ”Introduction: Discourse Analysis and Policy Discourse,” in Cass, F., ed., Arguing Development Policy: Frames and Discourses, London: European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, 1–14.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving (1974) Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience, Boston: Northeastern University Press.Google Scholar
Hadi, Ilman (2012) “Perbedaan antara Keputusan Presiden dengan Peraturan Presiden,” https://www.hukumonline.com/klinik/detail/lt4ffce5b9240c9/perbedaan-antara-keputusan-presiden-dengan-peraturan-presiden/ (accessed 3 January 2019).Google Scholar
HRWG (2017) “Perpres Perlindungan Pengungsi Harus Menjawab Permasalahan Utama Pencari Suaka di Indonesia (Translation]),” https://hrwg.org/tag/perpres/ (accessed 15 May 2019).Google Scholar
Huysmans, Jeff (2011) “What’s in an Act? On Security Speech Acts and Little Security Nothings.” 42 Security Dialogue 371–83.Google Scholar
Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (2019) “Arti kata dasar ‘ungsi’ (Translation),” https://kbbi.web.id/ungsi (accessed 4 August 2019).Google Scholar
Kneebone, Susan (2017) “Australia as a Powerbroker on Refugee Protection in Southeast Asia: The Relationship with Indonesia.” 33 Refuge 29–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLeod, Travers, Hughes, Peter, Petcharamesree, Sriprapha et al. (2016) “The Andaman Sea Refugee Crisis a Year On: What Happened and How Did the Region Respond?” https://theconversation.com/the-andaman-sea-refugee-crisis-a-year-on-what-happened-and-how-did-the-region-respond-59686 (accessed 31 August 2020).Google Scholar
Missbach, Antje (2014) “Doors and Fences: Controlling Indonesia’s Porous Borders and Policing Asylum Seekers.” 35 Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 228–44.Google Scholar
Missbach, Antje (2015) Troubled Transit: Asylum Seekers Stuck in Indonesia, Singapore: ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.Google Scholar
Missbach, Antje, Adiputera, Yunizar, & Prabandari, Atin (2018a) “Is Makassar a ‘Sanctuary City’? Migration Governance in Indonesia after the ‘Local Turn’.” 11 Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies 199–216.Google Scholar
Missbach, Antje, Adiputera, Yunizar, Prabandari, Atin et al. (2018b) “Stalemate: Refugees in Indonesia—Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016.” 14 CILIS Policy Paper 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OCHA (2016) “Sixth Ministerial Conference of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime—Co-Chairs’ Statement,” https://reliefweb.int/report/world/sixth-ministerial-conference-bali-process-people-smuggling-trafficking-persons-and (accessed 31 August 2020).Google Scholar
Rein, Martin, & Donald, Schön (1993) “Reframing Policy Discourse,” in Fischer, F. & Forester, J., eds., The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning, London: UCL, 145–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, Robyn, Gifford, Sandra, & Taylor, Savitri (2016) “The Myth of Transit: The Making of a Life by Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Indonesia.” 42 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 1135–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, Ronald (2014) “Value-Critical Policy Analysis: The Case of Language Policy in the United States,” in Yanow, D. & Schwartz-Shea, P., eds., Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn, Armonk: Sharp, 322–37.Google Scholar
Scriven, Michael (1976) ”The Seven Steps in Argument Analysis,” in Scriven, M., ed., Reasoning, New York: McGraw-Hill, 39–45.Google Scholar
Soeprapto, Enny (2004) “Promotion of Refugee Law in Indonesia.” 2 Indonesian Journal of International Law 57–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Syahrin, Muhammad Alvi (2014) “Analisa Yuridis Rancangan Peraturan Presiden Tentang Orang Asing Pencari Suaka Dan Pengungsi (Perspektif Hukum Keimigrasian Indonesia—UU No. 6 Tahun 2011 Tentang Keimigrasian) (Translation),” http://muhammadalvisyahrin.blogspot.com/2014/08/analisa-yuridis-rancangan-peraturan.html (accessed 20 June 2019).Google Scholar
Tan, Nikolas Feith (2016) “The Status of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Indonesia.” 28 International Journal of Refugee Law 365–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tobing, Dio Herdiawan (2017) “Kebijakan soal pencari suaka tak ideal—tapi satu langkah perbaikan (Translation),” https://theconversation.com/kebijakan-soal-pencari-suaka-tak-ideal-tapi-satu-langkah-perbaikan-80696 (accessed 31 August 2020).Google Scholar
UNHCR (1979) “Handbook on Procedure and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status and Guidelines on International Protection,” https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/publications/legal/5ddfcdc47/handbook-procedures-criteria-determining-refugee-status-under-1951-convention.html (accessed 20 October 2020).Google Scholar
UNHCR (2017) “Global Appeal 2018–2019,” –https://www.unhcr.org/publications/fundraising/5a0c05027/unhcr-global-appeal-2018–2019-full-report.html (accessed 8 September 2019).Google Scholar
UNHCR (2019) “Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019,” https://www.unhcr.org/5ee200e37.pdf (accessed 30 August 2020).Google Scholar
Violetta, Prisca Triferna (2019) “Warga sekitar penampungan tolak keberadaan pengungsi,” https://www.antaranews.com/berita/954636/warga-sekitar-penampungan-tolak-keberadaan-pengungsi (accessed 25 November 2020).Google Scholar
Widdowson, Henry (2004) Text, Context, Pretext: Critical Issues in Discourse Analysis, Malden: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wijaya, Callistasia (2019) “Pengungsi asing di Jakarta dilarang bekerja dan ditolak warga sekitar: ‘Saya tidak merasa seperti manusia seutuhnya’,” https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/indonesia-48999946 (accessed 25 November 2020).Google Scholar
Yanow, Dvora (2000) Conducting Interpretive Policy Analysis, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yonesta, Febi (2019) “Illegal or Protected? Indonesia’s Inconsistent Policy on Refugees,” https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/illegal-or-protected-indonesias-inconsistent-policy-on-refugees/ (accessed 13 August 2019).Google Scholar
Zetter, Roger (1991) “Labelling Refugees: Forming and Transforming a Bureaucratic Identity.” 4 Journal of Refugee Studies 39–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar