The Creation of Malay-Thai Labor Networks in Tom Yum Restaurants, Malaysia

Abstract

     There are many irregular Malay-Thai workers from lower southern Thailand working in Tom Yum restaurants all over Malaysia. These workers have been sourced by Malay-Thai entrepreneurs because the migrant networks have created migration connections between Thailand and Malaysia. This paper explains the migrant networks created by Malay-Thai workers in Malaysia drawing on examples based on six months from November 2008 to April 2009 of ethnographic fieldwork in Tom Yum restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. In recent years, the flow of irregular Malay-Thai migrant workers has become more complex in Malaysia and has expanded into lower southern Thailand through the social historical perspectives of the Tom Yum businesses. Migrant networks link migrant workers from Thailand to Malaysia by social ties in a variety of social relationship forms such as families, friends and neighbors in their hometown as well as through social ties with their workmates in the workplace. These ties are utilized to link workers with the Malay- Thai restaurant owners in Malaysia. The creation of migrant networks was important in various stages of the migration process among irregular Malay-Thai workers in Malaysia.