Thirdly, despite an increasing number of policy measures to regulate the recruitment process and tighten border controls, irregular migration within the ASEAN region remains intractable. As for most irregular migration, data on its extent are scarce. The largest number of irregular migrants has been documented in Malaysia, where low-skilled jobs inthe plantation industry attract irregular migrants, mainly from Indonesia. In 2005, when an amnesty programme regularized about 400,000 migrants (out of the approximately 800,000 to 1.2 million), around 87 per cent of those who registered were from Indonesia and an overwhelming majority (70%) were male (Agunias et. al., 2011). Indeed, regularization numbers give a good indication of the extent of irregular migration. In Thailand, for instance, more than 500,000 immigrants were regularized in 2001, and more than 1 million in 2009 (OECD, 2012). There have some studies highlighting that the Malaysian and Thai economies have become dependent on irregular migrants (Sugiyarto, 2014). Two other factors contributing to this issue are the commercialization and feminization of the current migration. The role of recruitment agencies has become very dominant, including in acting as employers willing to finance the recruitment and migration costs to be deducted from the migrant’s salary later on. This creates a bonded labour force, putting migrant workers in a vulnerable position. In this context, increasing participation of women in the migration process as low-skilled workers in the domestic services further highlights their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation (Sugiyarto, 2014). The phenomena of “fly now, pay later” and changing contracts for the departure and after arriving at destination highlight this issue
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