Southeast Asia was, and continues to be, a major destination of mass long-distance labor migrations. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries labor migration from China and India to the region was a defining feature of Asian globalization. Asian migration also approximated European transatlantic migration; it was consistent with the development of export production and industrialization in Europe and impacted on Southeast Asian economies and societies. Migration was largely unrestricted and led to settlement by immigrant communities and the creation of plural societies in colonial territories. Since the 1980s Southeast Asia has re-emerged as a major player in global migration movements and the scale, diversity and significance of migration flows has grown exponentially. The people who now cross international borders move mainly for economic reasons, or are forced to move for a variety of reasons, including displacement by wars. In the main Southeast Asian destination countries—Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand—foreign workers comprise between 15-30 percent of the labor force and their share is rising. Contemporary flows also comprise illegal movements and Southeast Asian states are striving to control their frontiers through evolving border strategies.

Labour migration in Southeast Asia since the 1970s and 1980s must be understood as an integral part of the post-colonial new geographies of migration. The scope and scale of transnational movements have grown rapidly and major states like Malaysia and Thailand between them currently host about 70 per cent of the estimated 13.5 million migrant workers in the region. Singapore's foreign labour force accounts for 25 per cent of the country's workforce. Two phenomena characterize these labour movements. Like labour-importing Western democracies, the major Southeast Asian labour-importing countries rely on the guest worker program to solve their labour shortage problems. They regulate immigration through elaborate administrative frameworks that are focussed on border control while brokerage firms and labour recruiters carry out recruitment, transportation and placement of migrant workers. These countries' immigration policies also often provide incentives for skilled workers, boost circular migration flows among low-skilled workers, and include severe penalties for unauthorised migrants. Additionally, comparisons between these countries point to patterns of convergence among them. This paper explores migration trends in the post-colonial geography of migration against the backdrop of growing regionalism and the development of regional migration systems and migration corridors. It also examines the "new world domestic order" and the development of gendered migration linkages that have resulted in the expansion of the domestic work sector and care-giving migration.

The current immigration debate in labour-importing countries such as Malaysia centres largely on whether migrants are an asset or a threat. On the one hand, migrant labour is an important economic asset in meeting labour shortages, keeping down labour costs and providing a range of skills not available locally. On the other, there are concerns that migrants put pressure on health and educational services and affect national security. It is also increasingly evident that many people move in disregard of the borders that delineate nations because they aspire to achieve a better life. This movement is perceived to undermine national structures since some migrants operate outside official channels and it is thus in local situations and contexts that the impact of migration is experienced, debated, and contested most directly. The current debate suggests that Southeast Asia is facing an important change of direction due to migration contributing to the reinvention and reconstruction of increasingly impenetrable borders. With the aim of contributing to this ongoing debate in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region, the Malaysia and Singapore Society of Australia addressed these and other issues at its Fourteenth Colloquium in December 2006. The Colloquium theme - Boundaries and Shifting Sovereignties: Migration, Security and Regional Cooperation In Asia - was tackled from a variety of perspectives. Seven papers from the interdisciplinary colloquium were selected for this special issue and provide new insights into the debates around migration and security in the region. In this volume we first examine migration issues focussing on state and societal perceptions towards migrant workers in Malaysia, the migration-trafficking-refugee nexus and the role of the Jesuit Refugee Service, a faith-based organisation that works with refugee groups in the Asia-Pacific. Second, in the context of rethinking about borders, we examine the key issue of security and how Malaysia in particular deals with regional security issues and conflict at its borders with Thailand and the Philippines. The question of suicide bombers in Indonesia is also considered in the wider context of national and regional security.

In the past three decades the Asia-Pacific region has experienced a major wave of immigration despite tighter migration policies and better border controls. Southeast Asia has been prominent in this change, with some countries being important sources and destinations of skilled and unskilled migrants. Australia has also increased its migration quotas, particularly the skilled migration intake. The emergence of new regional migration patterns, the fast growth in the demand for knowledge workers and skilled migrants in specific occupational categories, and the creation of subregional labour markets are all manifestations of the scale and diversity of recent migratory movements in the region. Key factors accounting for these developments include disparities in economic growth; income and poverty levels between countries; labour shortages arising from demographic transformations; structural change in labour supply; and the role of social networks and the migration industry as drivers of migration.

Migration is regarded as the earliest form of globalisation and human migrations have been a constant theme throughout history. Because there were no political boundaries, the movements of people were usually referred to as migration. According to Bohning (1984) the international migration of human beings dates back only to when the 'nation-state' took hold in Europe during the Industrial Revolution, and as a result of colonialism spread in all directions throughout the world. The nation state brought along with it a 'we-they' or 'in-out' distinction and people become identified with a particular nation. Movement from one nation to another or international migration required a change in allegiance and citizenship. In Asia and elsewhere colonial powers carved out new states with precisely delineated boundaries but kept borders open to trade, investment and labour flows in keeping with the growth of the international economy. In the post Second World War period, decolonisation and the dissolution of empires resulted in the emergence of independent nation states in the Asian region. The East Asian states embraced the 'new' globalisation via trade liberalisation strategies and export-led growth. Concurrently, a new form of the international division of labour brought opportunities for export-oriented industrialisation in East Asia. These countries' comparative advantage lay mainly in lower labour costs, and the labour market thus became one of the main channels through which globalisation impacted on the Asian economies.

The cross-border movement of people, consistent with the increased integration of economies and ongoing changes in the international division of labour, is an essential component of economic globalisation. Yet while trade and financial flows are welcomed by nations, people flows raise concerns about possible excessive influxes of migrant workers and irregular migrants and the potential erosion of national sovereignty. This has resulted in more restrictive immigration policies, evolving border control regimes and barriers. The sharp increase in labour mobility has also coincided with the growth of a migration industry, the establishment of official recruitment agencies and the increasing role of private entrepreneurs and middlemen providing all sorts of services to migrant workers in exchange for fees. Paradoxically, although the economic incentives for people to move have become stronger, immigration restrictions and intensified border controls in labour-exporting countries now constitute the principal barrier to international labour migration, International migration is also entwined with human rights and has become a major domestic and international political issue, particularly for Europe and North America. This issue is debated mainly in the context of western countries, and population movements in Southeast Asia/Asia are less well understood.

Malaysia and Thailand between them host about 70per cent (35 per cent each) of the estimated 13.5 million migrant workers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries. The workers mainly fill jobs in agriculture. fisheries. construction, manufacturing, domestic work and other services, offering labour flexibility to Malaysia and Thailand, and contributing to their competitiveness and economic progress. About 70 per cent of the migrant workers in Thailand and about 50 per cent in Malaysia are irregular migrants. Adaptable labour policies, shortcomings in contractual agreements and in the registration process have an impact on the status and socio-economic conditions of migrant workers, increasing their vulnerability and marginalisation. Most migrant workers do not enjoy fundamental civic rights and social protection and have limited access to adequate healthcare. The level of migrant workers' beneficial personal development outcomes, within the larger context of positive linkages between migration and development, is also doubtful. Comparisons of world development indicators such as life expectancy, wealth, and narrowing of income inequalities must thus also include an examination of governance of migration, the labour migration settings, and outcomes of migration, to inform the thinking and directions of future studies on social determinants of health.

Malaysia was built on immigration and, like other labour-importing countries, acknowledges the case for temporary labour migration as a solution to labour shortages in the country. The government has endorsed guest worker programs that are typically short term, and that include a range of restrictions to regulate the movement of low-skilled foreign workers. Most exclude explicit reference to labour protections. The State's low-skilled labour policy essentially vacillates between ensuring a continual supply of cheap labour and instigating crackdowns on undocumented migrants. Although the State originally imposed higher levies on skilled migrants, it has recently amended this policy and currently offers skilled migrants pathways to permanent residence and citizenship. Nevertheless, the sustained reliance on cheap labour and the way the policy is managed are preventing Malaysia from moving up the value chain. Additionally, the activities of labour brokers, disparities in the foreign labour levy system, and demand for labour have contributed to the expansion of irregular migration. Like other countries, Malaysia also relies on the regularisation of irregular migrants as a policy tool to extend legal status to undocumented economic migrants.

Trans-Asian labour migration, a defining feature of Asian globalisation prior to 1940, comprised mainly Chinese and Indian emigration to Southeast Asia and was quantitatively and qualitatively as significant as European transatlantic migration. Although migrant workers were regarded as sojourners, they established diasporic communities across the region, particularly in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. After the Second World War and problems of decolonisation, unskilled labour migration came to a halt.

In recent years qualitative and quantitative changes in Indian migration have gained the increasing attention of researchers, policymakers and organizations such as the World Bank (WB), the International Labour Office (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (TOM). This movement of Indians comprises a variety of flows — transient professionals or knowledge workers, skilled permanent migrants, students, unskilled workers and business streams — and the destinations have also broadened. Skilled Indian migration to North America, Europe, Australasia and East Asia is also taking place within regional blocs and policy frameworks have been established to facilitate these migrant flows. In view of the fact that structural relationships facilitating migration have become well-established, most governments today exert greater control over migration through national policies, and bilateral/multilateral agreements. The Indian government, for example, actively encourages emigration as a key instrument to promote national development. The expectation is that both remittances and the experiences and knowledge gained abroad will be used to further India's own development programmes. Additionally, the Indian government is also relying on the expansion and greater role of transnational networks that link the migrants to both India and the destination countries.