This paper analyzes how policy-relevant actors understand the causes and effects of labor immigration to Malaysia, the country that receives the highest number of migrant workers in Southeast Asia. Whereas most research on international migration governance has focused on governance system outputs, this paper adopts an actor-centered perspective to investigate how actors narratively construct labor migration dynamics in Malaysia and how they conceptualize the drivers and impacts of labor migration policies and practices. The empirical material comes from 41 in-depth interviews with government officials, policymakers, international and regional organizations, nongovernmental organizations, employers' organizations, trade unions, and embassy representatives. The study found that Malaysia's migration governance system was perceived as "chaotic" due to the seemingly inconsistent, unclear "ad hoc" policy measures implemented, and that the governance system is perceived as "corrupt." Economic incentives were also seen as the primary driver of labor immigration, yet the main impact on Malaysian society was perceived as the spread of criminality, violence and disease, a narrative centered on migrant men. This paper argues that this discourse is problematic as it may drive types of policy measures that target migrant men.

中文翻译：

---

犯罪、混乱和腐败：分析马来西亚劳工移民动态的叙述。

本文分析了政策相关行为者如何理解马来西亚是东南亚接收移民工人数量最多的国家的劳务移民的原因和影响。尽管大多数关于国际移民治理的研究都集中在治理系统的产出上，但本文采用以行动者为中心的视角来研究行动者如何叙事性地构建马来西亚的劳务移民动态，以及他们如何概念化劳务移民政策和实践的驱动因素和影响。实证材料来自对政府官员、政策制定者、国际和区域组织、非政府组织、雇主组织、工会和大使馆代表的 41 次深度访谈。研究发现，由于实施的看似不一致、不明确的“临时”政策措施，马来西亚的移民治理体系被认为“混乱”，而且治理体系被认为“腐败”。经济激励也被视为劳工移民的主要驱动力，但对马来西亚社会的主要影响被认为是犯罪、暴力和疾病的蔓延，这是一种以移民男性为中心的叙述。本文认为，这种言论是有问题的，因为它可能会推动针对男性移民的政策措施。