Faith and Uncertainty: Migrants' Journeys Between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore

In Indonesia, transnational labor migrations have become a major source of foreign currency over the past twenty years. New migration routes are shaped by various forms of collaborations between official and irregular actors and networks. In this context, migrating becomes a very uncertain journey, and migrants are often subjected to abusive, sometimes violent or even deadly experiences abroad. Yet, the “migration industry” can count on increasing numbers of candidates. How, then, migrant workers relate to this risky adventure?

As it appears, local conceptions of “fate” help to neutralize fear: the opacity of migration routes is not conceived of in terms of uncertainty; as it is rather perceived in terms of destiny, and since destiny lays ultimately in the hands of God, dealing with it is a matter of faith: Only by surrendering sincerely to Allah is one able to insure his future in this dangerous milieu. In this cognitive framework, incidents are lived as cobaan Tuhan – godly trials -, full of meanings, which are meant to test one’s faith in God. And bad experiences, rather than being seen as contingent are perceived as godly signs, which need to be interpreted in order to comply with God’s will.

Laying on ethnographic materials collected during a 18 months fieldwork spread between Java, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, we will try to show how this ethos tends to reduce the perception of risk and/or uncertainty under the concept of nasib and/or takdir (fate; destiny), and through its connectedness to God and faith.