ABSTRACT
Bone is a regency located about 173 kilometres to the east of Makassar, the capital
city of South Sulawesi, which has a population of 686,986 (BPS-Sulsel 2005). Most
people in the villages of Bone – as in other Bugis areas1 – remain engaged in agricul-
ture, and many of them live in poverty. This can be observed, for example, from the
potholed streets to the village, the poor houses, sanitary facilities, living conditions,
and insecure employment. Considering such poverty, it is not surprising that many
people leave their villages. According to the Head of the sub-district of Lappo’asé, in
Bone, 90 per cent of adults have at some time worked in Malaysia as migrants, many
of them illegally.2 However, both males and females refuse to be called or to call
themselves illegal TKW (I. Tenaga Kerja Wanita, female workers) or illegal TKI (I.
Tenaga Kerja Indonesia, Indonesian workers) because such terms have negative con-
notations.3 Instead, illegal migrants – males as well as females – call themselves pas-
simokolo’.4 Passimokolo’ originally comes from the Dutch word for ‘smuggle’, and
