From the dearth of academic literature about refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia, Troubled Transit: Asylum Seekers Stuck in Indonesia emerges as the first book to provide a comprehensive resource for academics and researchers working in the field. Examining historical, political, legal, and social aspects of the plight of asylum seekers, it successfully explores several key concepts in migration studies, and provides a contextualised debate about ‘transit migration’ in Indonesia that is distinct from Eurocentric connotations of illegality and the dualism of economic-political mixed motivations.
Troubled Transit illustrates the complexities of transit migration at the micro, meso, and macro levels by utilising both bottom-up and top-down perspectives. In Chapter 2, Missbach traces the historical trajectory of transit migration in Indonesia, comparing the ‘Indochinese boat people’ of the 1970s–1990s to current migrants, mostly from the Middle East, South Asia, and East Africa, as a way of highlighting Indonesia's ‘open aversion to hosting them for the long term’ (p. 54). Chapter 6 provides a macro-level analysis, which begins by evaluating Indonesia's distinct situation in terms of Kimball's four determinants of a transit state, followed by a detailed description of the legal provisions and mechanisms pertaining to transit migrants. Then, Chapter 7 impressively illustrates the course of Indonesia-Australia relations, which influences regulations on transit migrants in Indonesia, detailing the trajectory of Australian policy changes regarding asylum seekers and refugees.
For meso-level analysis, in Chapter 5, Missbach criticises the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration for shifting their roles and programmes from providing legal protection to material assistance. Nevertheless, her approach has its shortcomings: Although Missbach presents meso-level actors’ perspectives, such as those of immigration officers, staff members of national or local non-government organizations (NGOs), and police officers, she does not develop the discussion on the dynamics of engagement of civil society with transit migrant issues, which is a significant, emerging aspect of this broader issue that affects transit migrants’ wellbeing.
Despite Missbach's own argument that locals and transit migrants perceive each other with suspicion due to their limited social, cultural, and economic integration, while good personal relationships are an exception (p. 105), the book does not sufficiently delved into the complexities of how the Indonesian society as the host population build the idea of othering/welcoming migrants including asylum seekers. For instance, Indonesia's rather limited formal and legal provision to protect asylum seekers as a distinct group from economic migrants –which is different from the condition in most European countries – does not necessarily reflect the attitudes and perception (even sentiments) of individual Indonesian citizens towards transit migrants. Whatever the rules and mechanism being firmly set by the Indonesian state, individual officials and civil society activists have their own logic in developing relationship with transit migrants, which could be either positive or negative. Therefore, to analyse the dynamics of transit migration in Indonesia as a distinct phenomenon, such complexities of Indonesian civil society's involvement as well the societal characteristic in othering and/or welcoming migrants must be explored in details.
Chapters 3, 4, and 8 offer micro-level analysis, presenting migrants’ journeys and experiences from their perspective. Chapter 3 examines migrants’ journeys and indefinite detention upon arrival, highlighting their criminalisation and harsh treatment in detention. Chapter 4 unravels the difficulties of life for migrants in their condition of ‘stuckness’ in terms of housing, income generation, access to health services, and education. Chapter 8 explores the dynamics of the smuggling industry from the perspective of the smugglers, some of whom themselves began as transit migrants as well.
Considering the book's positioning of migrants as not only ‘mobile actors’ but also ‘actors of their own mobility’ (p. 18), the agency of migrants in the decision-making process is not fully represented. The above-mentioned chapters do not show migrants’ ability to negotiate challenges and pursue effective strategies. Although the book provides a bottom-up perspective allowing migrants to narrate their experiences, overall, the data presented still position migrants as political subjects, which is common in citizenship studies (Lazar Reference Lazar2013; Ong Reference Ong1996). Providing a special sub-chapter on unaccompanied minors (p. 109), Missbach chose not to discuss the quality of resilience that is crucial to the idea of agency. Scholars have tried to position young people in the migratory process so that their vulnerability and agency are not mutually exclusive (Marisa and Gozdziak Reference Ensor and Gozdziak2010; Utas Reference Utas2005; O'Higgins Reference O'Higgins, Orgocka and Clark-Kazak2012; Gateley Reference Gateley2015), but Missbach's narrative only emphasises unaccompanied minors’ vulnerability.
Conceptually, Troubled Transit contributes to an important debate on mobility and immobility in the study of migration. The mainstream literature overemphasises mobility, movement, and flows in the discussion of the ‘politics of mobility’. Refreshingly, Troubled Transit argues that issues of ‘stuckness’, involuntary immobility, and stagnation need to be considered. However, the ‘politics of waiting’ that characterises the precarious condition of transit migrants whose rights are not legally guaranteed ought to be problematised, as their experiences in the transit country will continue to affect their wellbeing even after settlement in the destination country. The discussion of the politics of waiting should not only analyse the restrictive conditions created by state agencies or organisation staff, but also how asylum seekers create and politicise this arena in the transit phase.
In line with the mainstream discourse around transit migration and stuckness, this book also reproduce the migrants’ condition of ‘being in limbo’. However, since transit migration in Indonesia must be analysed according to its context, usage of the term ‘limbo’ should be problematised. Limbo-ness is not only determined by the “suspension of juridical-political rights” (p. 5), but should also consider socio-cultural aspects in the transit phase, which may offer more space for self-development than the country of origin, or even the destination country. This term is effective for purposes of claiming rights, but problematizing it here will serve to strengthen the argument for the uniqueness of transit migration in Indonesia.
Heavy instrumental analysis throughout the chapters utilising a rights-based approach to Indonesian regulations, government attitudes, and mechanisms for managing transit migrants yields stronger analysis on the macro than on the meso or micro levels, which influences the premise of the key concepts. Nevertheless, it is an understandable position considering the context and the lack of attention to the situation of asylum seekers in Indonesia. In fact, the book has already become a credible pioneer in this field.
