State Power and the Regulation of Non-Citizens: Immigration Laws, Policies and Practices in Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

This thesis examines the exercise of state power over non-citizens in Malaysia, a developing, middle-income state with foreign labour dependency. Drawing on Foucault¿s conceptualisation of sovereign, disciplinary and governmental power, I examine how the state regulates four categories of non-citizens: authorised migrant workers; migrants with irregular status; foreign spouses of Malaysian citizens; and, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons. I examine the structure and significance of the different immigration control (sub)regimes, highlighting the experiences of non- citizens. I review case law, examining how the status and rights of non-citizens have been adjudicated. I identify the 'mentalities', 'techniques', and 'objectives' of government, which bear on how these non-citizens have been conceptualised and placed in Malaysia. I identify the limits of state power, and propose the notions of 'relations of dependence' and the 'hierarchy of deservedness' in the exercise of disciplinary and governmental power respectively.