Gempera Research Team Participates in Migrant Labor Research funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture in Suralaga District 2021-2022

Gempera Director Dr. Saipul Hamdi, who is also a lecturer in Sociology at Unram, obtained a one-year research grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture on “Study of Government Policies and Alternative Strategies for the Economic Development of Migrant Workers through Mapping the Potential of Social Entrepreneurship in facing the Impact of Covid-19 in Suralaga, East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara”. This research was conducted in 2021-2022 in several villages in Suralaga District including Suralaga Village, Paok Lombok Village and Borok Tumbuh Village. The reason for choosing three villages in this sub-district is because the number of deported migrant workers is very large so that the impact of Covid-19 is also very pronounced.

This research activity involved 10 students from Sociology Unram who were included in the MBKM Research Internship program. In addition, two lecturers from Sociology were also members of the research, namely Oryza Pneumatica Indrasari, M.Sosio and Syarifuddin, M.Si. Students were directly involved in collecting data in the field in groups. We not only interviewed residents, but also the village government. As a result of this research, 5 articles and 5 books have been published out of the targeted 10 articles and 10 books. These articles were published in well-known, sinta-accredited journals.

Significant research results show that the central government’s policy in handling Covid-19 has not touched many groups of migrant workers. Although they are a vulnerable group and suffer greatly from Covid-19, there has been no priority and special handling from the government. The initiation of the village in finding solutions for local migrant workers has actually been carried out because all village heads in these three villages are former migrant workers. In Suralaga village, for example, the former village head explained that the efforts made to help migrant workers were to provide jobs to them and also to find a way to re-enter Malaysia or Saudi Arabia during the lock down period due to Covid-19. Meanwhile, in Paok Lombok village, the village has identified migrant workers to be included in the cash social assistance program (BST). Borok Tumbuh village is also one of the Desmigratif villages that helps migrant workers manage their remittances for new businesses.