The State and the Transnational Politics of Migrants: A Study of the Chins and the Acehnese in Malaysia.

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Date: 01 August 2019
• Author: Oh, Su-Ann

The State and the Transnational Politics of Migrants: A Study of the Chins and the Acehnese in Malaysia, by Sheila Murugasu. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Pp. 228.

This book is a welcome addition to the literature on transnational migrant politics, refugee and migrant life in Malaysia and on two migrant communities--the Chin and the Acehnese. With the exception of a handful of studies, there have been few scholarly works on these two groups in the country.

The objectives of the book are to identify the ways in which these transnational migrants interact with the Malaysian state, how they engage in transnational politics and how these state-migrant interactions may be conceptualized. The author succeeds in fulfilling these goals and provides us with a nuanced study of how these two migrant groups have been able to carve out space to mobilize politically in the harsh and challenging environment that the Malaysian state has created for undocumented migrants. In addition, the comparative nature of the work sheds light on the ways in which these two groups differ in their transnational political activity and the...