The everyday practices of factory workers are driven by their ‘capacity to aspire’, which indicates workers’ aspirations to improve their lives. The everyday life dimension of factory workers showed that workers actively assert themselves through different activities which are often related to their immediate talents, in order to thereby gain dignity and self-satisfaction that they might not be able to gain by working in the factory, even though some of the workers manage to hit the daily targets set by the factory. The ability to aspire, as reflected in the factory workers’ doings and saying outside the factory, is different from that displayed by the subjects of Bayat’s disenfranchised, who are aspiring
112 The girl walked past Rachel and I when I had just conducted an interview and was about to leave Paya Terubong. She looked at Rachel smilingly and waved to say goodbye to Rachel on her way to return to her hostel.
to survive in urban settlements in which they resist the assertion of control by local government through everyday encroachment, and also contrasts with the examples offered by Appadurai, who demonstrates that the marginalised urban poor are endowed with the capacity to aspire to act collectively in order to protest against urban government management, via institutional support such as legal training and counselling. These two prominent examples demonstrate that in some way everyone has the ‘capacity to aspire’, either as active fighter or passive victim. However, the factory workers’ practices outside the factory showcase their ‘capacity to aspire’ to live a better life, and workers’ activities show their active daily engagement in doing ordinary things. In addition, I argue that workers’ ordinary everyday practices indicate that they aspire to live a normal life, in which this aspiration it does not manifest at either of the two extreme forms of passive or active resistance. Besides, as Archer insightfully pointed out, the notion of habitus does not play a major influential role, especially in migrants’ cases. This is because, as Archer says, change is possible given that migrants adapt to their surroundings, or actually bring in the immediate talents that they inherit from their origin countries, while at the same time they learn and upgrade those skills that make better sense of their existence in the foreign society, such as in Penang. Therefore, it is readily understood that migrants have different set of dispositions from members of the local population, who spend their whole lives living in Penang. Examples of this include the ordinary activities of Ah Dae, who draws on her immediate skills to pick, pack and sell vegetables in the free time, and Ros, who offers a skilled massaging service to her colleagues. Ah Dae demonstrates her abilities in knowing where to access the farm land, how to escape the fierce farm owner, and when to schedule her activities in order to get a good catch from selling vegetables;
Ros, who agrees to engage in cooking and massaging activities, reveals her own inclinations to perform the tasks that allow her to earn extra money and also to give her a sense of self-satisfaction and self-realisation.
Emotion is an important component in the framing of the everyday lives of factory workers because the positive feelings, such as a sense of pride and happiness, motivate them to achieve and sustain their personal goals, be they money-oriented or non-monetary in nature. In the same vein, the workers relate to daily sayings and actions which light up the elements of having fun and feeling proud, such as rewarding oneself by purchasing
gold necklaces and bracelets, enjoying celebrations in karaoke bars, learning haircutting skills and the like. The pleasure of doing extra work outside the factory in order to provide fresh vegetables at affordable price- for other workers, or to make others look good by giving them a good haircut, reflect the ‘ways of feeling and experiencing certain activities’
in the normal life dimensions of workers (Everts et al., 2011). Furthermore, workers attached meanings to their everyday doings and narratives outside the factory.
Fundamentally, narratives in the daily practices of workers point to the importance of their sayings, ‘the stories that people create to make sense of their lives and environments’
(Autesserre, 2014). Factory workers who take up various strategies for second/third jobs, recreational activities in order to have fun, or other activities to remain spirituality connected, are basically building up the various facets of life in order to lead happy, satisfactory, and contented working lives in Penang, reflecting a desire to live with dignity in the host society.
I contrast the workers’ meaningful life perspectives, in the sense of being satisfied, with their realising their potential within the dominant remittances perspective. I argue that their devotion to sending remittances only displays a comparatively minor part of their everyday practices in social life; far more telling are the dedication of talent, realisation of their own potential, and pursuit of a satisfactory life, which they practice, and which are the main reasons they engage and relate, though not necessarily greatly connected to the pressure to send remittances. Moreover, the meaningful life perspective also points to the dimension of feeling appreciated, feeling pride and confidence in their ability to exercise their immediate talents in the host society. The aspiration for a good life is meaningful when they are able to bring together the utilising of their immediate skills, which as a consequence boosts their self-esteem and self-confidence, and at the same time enables them to earn extra money. Workers’ narratives about the way they live against the backdrop of exploitations in the factory, as shown in the narrative from Ah Dae, who happily told me that she managed to earn better than the monthly salary without doing overtime, demonstrates her self-confidence and self-discipline in running her vegetable-selling business. In addition, Ah Dae’s narrative reveals a feeling of disappointment concerning the monthly salary expected from the factory, and yet also indicates her pride at being able to earn extra money using her skills. In other words,
workers’ narratives underlying the ‘emotional life’ go beyond affection, but also encompass negative feeling (Everts et al., 2011). On the one hand, the narrative of Irlah, who sees herself as having had to separate from her daughter due to her intentional aspiration to be able to afford the same daughter’s study fees; on the other hand, the self-reflective sayings regarding her erratic shopping behaviour may indicate her intention to live a normal life in the host society. For instance, being able to support her family in the origin country, and at the same time being able to support herself and to buy favourable clothing, shoes, and cosmetic products allow her to feel like she is balancing her work and personal life and make her able to be proud of her appearance in the receiving society.
Furthermore, the aspiration for a meaningful life is also reflected in finding a partner in workers’ private lives, or simply enjoying time in karaoke bars or joining in with celebrations, which are the dimensions that are not reflected upon in the dominant remittances-based perspective. Nevertheless, these dimensions also reflect the routinised activities which ordinary actors practice in their everyday lives.
6 HOW MIGRANTS BECOME ENTREPRENEURS: THE RISOLES BUSINESS CONFIGURATION OF SUTI
The investigation of human activities opens up the exploration of actors’ agency in the society, through the events in which they engage and interact altogether. Chapter 5 explored the everyday practices of factory workers in their social life dimension. In this and the following Chapter, I will demonstrate two exemplary configurations which evolve through the stories of two foreign ‘workers’ who have lived and shaped their lives over years while having both documented and undocumented status in the receiving society. I bring in Suti and Babu to illustrate their emancipation journeys, which are loaded by the ordinary activities that they engage in and are able to relate to in their everyday activities and sayings, which are centred on business and spirituality, respectively. I argue that they are ordinary people because their everyday performances are ordinary practices, and with considerable aspirations to improve their lives and to help both local and non-local people.
For this Chapter, I selected Suti113 as the central person who displays a strong character as an independent homemade Risoles cake maker. Risoles are popular in Indonesia, and made with a special recipe to make them tasty. The terminology of configuration is used loosely in referring to the interdependent relationships which Suti establishes with her immediate environment through the cake business in everyday life.
She establishes her social and economic activities through the Risoles business, through which she builds up various spontaneous and intentional connections with people related to her business. There are several people mentioned in Suti’s stories who possess both similar and different characteristics in comparison to Suti’s strategies and ways of life.
113 I met Suti, a female Indonesian, when I was searching for a room to rent in the initial stage of the PhD project in 2012. She was recommended and introduced to me by a local Chinese resident who claimed that she was hard working, independent, and generous. Moving into the smallest room of the flat Suti rented from a local Chinese tenant, I started to mingle with Suti and other factory workers on an everyday basis.
Exploring Suti’s business configuration opens up the opportunity to establish a deep understanding on her active engagements with different actors and her surrounding environment in the host society. In particular I identify other significant traits that have evolved out of Suti’s business configuration, which will be discussed in a unique way by
‘following’ the everyday activities of Suti in the process of making Risoles, as follows:
Purchasing ingredients for Risoles is a routine activity for Suti; she is a regular customer of the grocery shop near her flat, which is own by a Bangladeshi businessman named Bihar, who also owns a few shops at various migrant hotspots. Notably, Bihar snaps up any business opportunities which he comes across, as his business strategy is strongly driven by his interest in the high-profit and also, to some extent, high-risk approach. The introduction to Bihar’s life experiences in the host society sheds light on his aspirational practices, or more precisely the ambitious business goals he pursues (Section 6.1). We then follow Suti’s next step in making Risoles, which is a time- and energy-consuming task in her everyday schedule. This section brings up her ideas about employing part-time workers, through which other interesting characters are added into her everyday practices and sayings – in particular the life stories of an undocumented female worker named Cheya, who manages her life independently and who works for Suti temporarily. Cheya has shown her capacity, cooking skills, and conscious efforts to stand on her own feet in view of her flexible and practical everyday doings and grateful thoughts.
Suti and Cheya might have learned subconsciously from each other, and thus they show some similar approaches in terms of bringing their daughters to work as factory workers in Penang, and renting their rooms to factory workers, among other practices. Suti’s engagement of factory workers to assist her in making Risoles enables her to establish direct contact with factory workers, who are also her main customers. The main message of this section is the capacity of Suti to engage with different group of people in helping her Risoles business and the making sense of her social relationship within the surrounding environment to further support her business (Section 6.2). Then, the next section aims to demonstrate how she maintains her old and new business partnerships, as the regular scheduling and sending Risoles is cemented into her everyday activities. More importantly, there are two inspiring businesswomen, named Heti and Mariah, who transformed from factory workers into owners of a successful food selling business, which
will be presented in the section. The narratives of their success story have become especially inspiring and motivational examples for other young factory workers to follow (Section 6.3). I then offer a ‘thick’ description of Suti’s continuous and conscious effort to keep the Risoles business running (Section 6.4). This section provides observational insights into Suti’s gifted and natural personality in establishing good friendships with the surrounding people and environment, which is also reflected in her personal relationships.
The active social relationships help expanding the Risoles business, and to keep her living a normal life in the host society. In addition, I also bring in other characters related to Suti’s stories, such as Sri and Ah Choong, who have only indirect contacts with Suti, but whose experiences contribute to the overall argument that migrant labourers are ordinary people who are highly aspirational in their everyday doings, sayings and ideas in terms of improving their lives in the receiving society. In the last section, I make some concluding remarks based on Suti’s everyday practices (Section 6.5).
[…] If I were not smart enough, I would not be possible to stay here […] I am managing everything by myself over the past few years. (03.10.2012, Interview with Suti)
The above statement is a reflection by Suti, an undocumented worker, on her life over the past 13 years in Penang. Suti comes from Medan, Indonesia. Thirteen years ago, she was a housewife with three young daughters, and her husband was doing well financially. She lived a comfortable life. On one occasion, she travelled to Penang with two of her children for holidays. It happened that her mother, who was already working in Malaysia, introduced her to a job with decent monthly salary, RM 1,300 (Euro 304).
She admitted that she was motivated by the aspiration to gain working experience overseas, and to enjoy the freedom of being financially independent. Thus, she started to work in Penang. Later, she separated from her husband, and left their three young daughters with him. However, she still keeps in touch with her daughters and remits around RM 100 (€
23.40) monthly for them. She has gone back to Indonesia twice by ferry in the last 13 years. She has worked as a waitress in the high-class restaurants at the tourist hotspot, as a cook at a food stall in the food court, and as a cleaner, and has also been jobless at times.
I became one of Suti’s tenants during my one-year field research. Mr. Gen, the security guard in the building, who is in his 70s, took me to Suti’s flat. He was aware that Suti was looking for a new tenant to replace the former female Indonesian renter, who was going to move out of the smallest room in the flat. Suti shared the master room with her eldest daughter, named Raila, who was a factory worker. The other, medium-sized room was rented to a female factory worker, named Irlah, who lived with her local partner, named Abdul. Abdul worked as a garbage truck driver. Suti had been renting the current flat from a local Chinese landlord since 2011 through a friend’s recommendation.
Previously, she was staying in other places located near the present flat. She had to move out due to the former landlord declaring bankruptcy.
Making Risoles is better for me because there is no boss or supervisor to scold me anymore. I am the boss and the worker! (15.09. 2012, Suti’s personal account, field note entry)
She has made homemade Risoles cakes to support her living costs over the past six years to date. Suti takes her responsibility as the head of the flat seriously, and the decision to rent out rooms is made with proper consideration, as she stated:
[…] if I have a choice I would not rent out the rooms because I use the space in the house for making the Risoles business […] the business is good […] but given that I need to handle every single thing with regard to the house as I am the head, I face challenges from time to time […] thus I rented out two rooms to help with the monthly rent. (03.10.2012, Interview with Suti)
To interpret Risoles as simply cakes or things will tend to be very narrow and shallow. Instead, I argue that the making of Risoles must be seen as an important skill, an immediate talent and instrument through which Suti makes connections with her immediate surroundings and other people. Thus, it is a lively story itself given the relationship between Suti and the Risoles.
Picture 8 Risoles Placed Together in A Plastic Container for Sale