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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, No. 8 (8) / 2012THE RATIONALE BEHIND WEAKLY TIED NETWORKING OF THE BANGLADESHIDIASPORA IN MALAYSIAABSTRACTSultana Nayeem, Associate ProfessorDepartment of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, BangladeshPhone: +880-1924752886, E-mail: sultana_nayeem@yahoo.caReceived August 7, 2012This paper is an exploration of the survival strategies of the Bangladeshi Diaspora in Malaysia. Tocope with the realities, Bangladeshi migrants develop different forms of survival strategies. As a resultintra and inter-ethnic strong and weak ties are formed in the receiving country. Empirical analysisdepicts that respondents with weak ties have higher income mobility than those with strong ties. It alsodemonstrates that the Bangladeshi migrants of the study areas do not restrict themselves only to theirclose social networks; rather they develop distant networks for higher social mobility. Or in otherwords, though the ideal socio-cultural model emphasizes community cohesion (something that can beconceptualized as an example of a tightly structured social system), the actual behavior of the Bangladeshimigrants indicates a loosely or disintegrated social system. Migrant’s embeddedness in the ongoingsocial relations and power structures regulates the nature and strength of these ties.KEY WORDSMixed embeddedness; Bangla bazaar; Bangladeshi diaspora; Strong ties; Weak ties.Migration and settlement of Bangladeshis inMalaysia is a common fact during this period ofglobalization. The question is, therefore, notwhether Bangladeshis migrate, instead, how theysurvive in a foreign country and develop differentstrategies to improve their fortunes. Bearing thisquestion in mind an intensive ethno-survey wasconducted both in Bangladesh (country of origin)and Malaysia (country of residence) 1 . These migrantsare found as the heterogeneous groups ofpeople, embedded in the diverse realities and liabilitiesof the origin and host societies 2 .Therefore, in this study, the readers maycome across their non-homogeneous interests and1 Sultana, N. 2008. The Bangladeshi Diaspora in Malaysia. OrganizationalStructure, Survival Strategies and Networks, ZEF DevelopmentStudies. LIT: Berlin2 Research for this study was carried out through the financial assistanceof DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). Field researchin Malaysia and Bangladesh was conducted among the immigrantsand their families from June 2005 till August 2006. Fieldresearch data are derived from an interview-survey among 150current Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia and intensive ethnographicfieldwork in Bangladesh and Malaysia. Along with 165 semistructuredinterviews (with returned and current migrants), somegroup discussions were arranged with returned migrants, their families,friends and neighbourhoods as well as with a N.G.O (establishedby well-off repatriated migrants). Sources of secondary datawere literature reviews, newspaper articles, published and unpublishedreports and conference papers.concomitant coping strategies. There (in the receivingsociety) networking is an asset. Our analysishas moreover evidenced that depending ontheir demands firstly of adaptation (to cope andsurvive in a foreign country) and secondly ofupward mobility both strong and weak ties havebeen developed along the lines of horizontal andvertical networking. These networking are formulated(by the migrants) on the basis of the diverseeveryday realities they face through their“mixed embeddedness” 3 . Regarding this, both thesocio-economic, political and institutional structuresof the origin and receiving countries as wellas migrants’ socio-economic statuses, transnationalcontacts and duties are found as the regulators.Thus, along with bonds of strong and weakties different types of alliances and cleavages aredeveloped by the well-off and poor migrants inthe horizontal level. Consequently, instead ofhomogeneity, heterogeneity and diversity are thecommon criteria for the Bangladeshi Diaspora inMalaysia.However, apart from these primordial typesof networking, a kind of inter-ethnic strong (in-3 Robert Kloosterman, Joanne van der Leun and Jan Rath. 1999.Mixed Embeddedness: (In) formal Economic Activities and ImmigrantBusinesses in the Netherlands, p. 2.6
SULTANA NAYEEM, University of Dhakater-ethnic friendship, marital and other kinds ofintimate relationships) and weak ties (commercialnetworking like partnership in business etc.) werealso found as the outcome of the migrants’ embeddednessin the receiving society, with whichafter all they had to cope with.The question is which of these characteristicsare prominent, how do they contribute to theorganizational structure of the community and inwhat context does that happen? Therefore, in thenext sections at first we will define how strongand weak ties are operationalized. Later on, Granovetter’s(1973, 1983, and 1985) conception of“strong” and “weak ties” and the concomitantstrength of weak ties (posited by him) will beanalyzed testing against the data of this study 4 .This type of comparison is important on theground that the formulation of different forms ofnetworking, like friendship (for adaptation) ordistant relationships (for survival in the host society),were defined by the migrants as a mustthat may bear a resemblance to his (Granovetter)point of view. This study will continue discussionhighlighting the following aspects: methodology;operational definitions of strong and weak ties;revisiting Granovetter’s conception on strong andweak ties.Methodology. A brief overview of thesources of data and the methods that were appliedto collect data is important to support the argumentsof this study. Field research in Malaysiaand Bangladesh was conducted among the immigrantsand their families from June 2005 till August2006. Field research data are derived froman interview-survey among 150 current Bangladeshimigrants in Peninsular Malaysia and intensiveethnographic fieldwork (with returned andcurrent migrants) in Bangladesh and PeninsularMalaysia.Applying snowball sampling (somethingusually applied to find hidden population) Bangladeshirespondents were selected. In fact, neitherthe immigration department of the host countrynor the emigration authorities of the homecountry had any concrete information about Bangladeshimigrants. Likewise, the central statisticsbureau, the local police as well as the Bangladesh4 Mark S. Granovetter. 1973. The Strength of Weak Ties. AJS volume78, Number 6 and Mark S. Granovetter. 1983. The Strength ofWeak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited. Sociological Theory,volume 1. See also Mark Granovetter. 1985. The University ofChicago. Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem ofEmbeddedness. AJS Volume 91 Number 3, p. 481-510.High Commission in Malaysia failed to provideany data about the “hotspots” of Bangladeshi migrantsor their statistical figure in Malaysia. Onthe contrary, each of them spoke of the migrants’essentially mobile character. They also emphasizedthat Bangladeshi migrants used to stay andwork there as undocumented workers and even,some of them could be found as husbands of Malaysians.Consequently, some open-ended questionswere added in the survey questionnaires thatprovided information about the nature of theirintegration, embeddedness in local society andcoping strategies.Besides, utilizing the networks of the respondentsselected for interview-survey, intervieweeswere selected for more intensive interviews.These in-depth interviews were conducted to seewhether or not the best solution was taken byBangladeshi migrants to deal with their multidimensionalembeddedness. Data, collected inthat way, revealed that social networks, developedalong the lines of horizontal and verticalnetworking, supported the migrants bearing theirsocio-cultural and psychological responsibilitiesin the transnational hubs. The said networks,moreover, decreased their costs of migration.Operational definitions of strong andweak ties. Trust is a common factor in close socialnetworks. Unless an extreme situation(struggle for a scarce resource, e.g. an opportunityof migration to a foreign country) arrives, respectivefellow feelings, duties and moral obligationsremain intact within these strong ties thatmay echo the examples of the Chinese Gunaximodel as portrayed in Hammond’s work 5 . Referringto the work of Gao and Ting Toomey (1998)he has argued that the unconditional sharing ofinformation (even secret) within the insider networks,is the main function of the Gunaxi relationship.In these relationships members are consideredhighly trustworthy and they are obliged tomaintain that honor. According to him, within theinsider networks relationships are perceived asfamily or like a family that cannot be altered exceptunder extreme conditions. However, it isnow known to us from the previous section’s discussionthat with the exception of friends (thatmeans fictive ties) most of the actors of strongties always remain intimate since they possesscommon goals as each other’s consanguine andaffine.5 Scott et al. (2004)7
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