Jakarta, IO – Borders are meant to be spaces protected by the state. Yet for some migrants and refugees, they can instead become spaces of uncertainty.
Between countries such as Indonesia and Australia or Indonesia and Malaysia, people can lose access to documents, healthcare, legal protection and even their identity. They face not only geographic boundaries, but also bureaucratic barriers and gaps in humanitarian protection.
The deeper issue is how vulnerable people become when border systems see them as a security concern.
Borders: More Than Just Checkpoints
When I was assigned to West Kalimantan in 2023, I understood that border issues go far beyond the presence of official checkpoints.
According to information provided by local officers at the time, there were around 400 unofficial routes, commonly known as jalan tikus, along the West Kalimantan–Malaysia border, while the number of official security posts was far more limited.
This gap leaves room for illegal activities, from irregular migration to transnational crimes such as drug trafficking and other criminal operations.
But addressing these challenges requires more than tighter surveillance and enforcement. It is more important to ask how the state can protect irregular migrant workers with vulnerable situations.
Not everyone crossing the border through unofficial routes has criminal intentions. Some may be unaware of the procedures, fall victim to smuggling networks or be driven by economic hardship.
Therefore, border security must go hand in hand with human protection.
The Sea: A Vast and Hard-to-Monitor Border
We often forget that Indonesia’s borders are not limited to land.
In an archipelagic country like ours, the sea forms one of the country’s largest and most complex border areas to monitor. Maritime borders in Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara and areas bordering Australia face different challenges from those along land borders.
The vast waters, limited monitoring at ports and transit points on outlying islands and the complexity of smuggling networks make effective oversight difficult.
Coastal communities and fishermen can also be vulnerable. They may be recruited as couriers, crew members or links in the logistics chains of smuggling networks. At the same time, economic hardship can make marginalized communities more susceptible to exploitation by criminal networks.
Maritime border protection must go hand in hand with economic support, coastal community protection and access to legal information
Trafficking vs. Migrant Smuggling
When discussing migration and transnational crime, it is also important to distinguish between human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
Trafficking in persons involves exploitation. Victims may be recruited or transported through deception, coercion or abuse of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation, including forced labor or sexual exploitation.
Migrant smuggling, however, mainly involves facilitating a person’s illegal entry into a country in exchange for payment. However, migrants may still face extortion, violence, kidnapping oreven abandonment by smuggling networks in the process.
The Fine Line Between Vulnerability and Crime
The danger arises when someone seeking a better life through migration instead becomes a victim of transnational crime.
The state must look beyond a person’s immigration status and consider their vulnerability and need for protection.
Who is most vulnerable? At least four groups require particular attention.
First: Women. Women may face greater risks of gender violence, exploitation, human traffickingand sexual violence in unsafe migration situations.
Second: Children. Children risk losing access to education, being separated from their families, facing exploitation and suffering serious psychological impacts.
Third: Fishermen and coastal communities. They may be recruited or exploited by smuggling networks, while also facing legal consequences for accidentally crossing territorial boundaries due to a lack of awareness or difficult conditions at sea.
Fourth: Indigenous and border communities. Many live far from government services while being on the front lines of the country’s sovereign territory.
Ironically, those living closest to the border are often the furthest from access to information, public services and legal protection.
Security is necessary, but security alone is not enough
The state bears the responsibility to protect national sovereignty, prevent smuggling, combat human trafficking and secure its borders
Border enforcement must distinguish between irregular entry, criminal conduct and those in need of protection.
A trafficking victim is not a trafficker. A refugee is not a smuggler. An undocumented migrant is not automatically a criminal. A fisherman who accidentally crosses a border is not automatically part of a transnational criminal network.
The state must be able to distinguish between those who pose a security threat and those who need security and protection. This is why border management requires a human security perspective.
Indonesia’s legal and institutional framework for border management still faces challenges, including fragmented systems, overlapping authorities and gaps in implementation.
At least three gaps require particular attention.
First: institutional coordination. The National Border Management Agency (BNPP), Immigration, the TNI, National Police, Bakamla, local governments and other relevant agencies must work within a coordinated system. Transnational crime does not stop at institutional boundaries.
Second: monitoring and enforcement. Stronger oversight, particularly in maritime areas, outlying islands, unofficial routes and hard-to-reach border regions.
Third: protection. Apprehending offenders alone is not enough. The state must also have mechanisms to identify victims, provide legal assistance and healthcare, offer special protection to women and children, establish referral mechanisms and ensure safe and dignified repatriation.
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Border Communities: More Than the State’s Eyes and Ears
Border communities must be seen as more than the state’s eyes and ears. They are rights holders and essential partners in ensuring human security.
Coastal communities, fishermen, Indigenous peoples, women and young people living in border areas possess valuable local knowledge. They know the waterways, community dynamics, environmental changes and patterns of movement that may not always be visible to authorities.
However, their involvement must come with protection, not simply additional responsibilities. Here are five steps toward a human security-based border management system.
First: Build a human security-based border management system. National security and human protection must go hand in hand. Sovereignty should not come at the expense of humanitarian concerns.
Second: Strengthen victim identification and protection. Border officials need the capacity to distinguish between trafficking victims, refugees, asylum seekers, irregular migrants andsmugglers.
Third: Integrate land and maritime surveillance. Indonesia cannot build a border security system focused primarily on land posts. Maritime areas, small ports, outlying islands and transit points must also be integrated into the country’s monitoring and protection system.
Fourth: Protect border communities. Communities need access to information on safe migration, legal rights, fishermen’s protections, legal assistance and economic alternatives so that financial vulnerability cannot be easily exploited by criminal networks.
Fifth: Strengthen cross-agency and cross-border coordination. Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are transnational crimes. No single agency or country can tackle them alone. Cooperation must cover information sharing, prevention, law enforcement, victim protection andsafe repatriation.
Protecting Borders, Protecting People
Indonesia needs a new approach to border management, shifting from border security to human security.
Protecting the border is not simply about safeguarding the country’s territorial boundaries. It also means ensuring that the people who live, work, travel and seek safety along those boundaries do not lose their rights or dignity.
Ultimately, a strong state is not defined only by its ability to secure its borders, but also to protect the people living along them from becoming victims.
