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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, No. 8 (8) / 2012For weak ties, the opposite situation is supposedto be normal, since this relationship is developedto mitigate different kinds of supply anddemand. Since their (migrants’) close networksfail to fulfill their necessities (because of limitedcapabilities), they develop weak ties. For example,managing a way of migration or finding alternativesources of income etc. are fulfilled bydeveloping weak ties. The actors of weak ties arenot closely related to each other and hence do notmeet frequently. In the same way, these peopleare not morally bound to assist each other, unlesstheir service is purchased by the clients. Thoughthe relationship is also developed instrumentalizingnational brotherhood, but it mainly worksdepending on commercial exchange, instead ofrelying only on moral obligations (that can beseen in strong ties).Due to mutual demand for upward mobilitywell-off brokers support their clients (after extractingservice charges from them) as parts oftheir manpower business; while on the otherhand, in order to find ways of migration or higherincome mobility, poor migrants develop relationshipswith them. Better-off businessmen cumbrokers depend on poor migrants to make a profitvia manpower and “hundy” business. They (thepoor migrants) are also the buyers of Bangladeshigoods and food stuffs from these entrepreneurs’enterprises, which operate in the study areas.Hence the actors of weak ties know that these tiesare secondary (derivative/unoriginal) in natureand are essentially a tool for upward mobility.Accordingly it delineates that within the weakties - all the actors cannot belong to the same socio-economicposition and are not the possessorsof equal capabilities (as well).As a matter of fact, if they all held equalpower, information and capabilities to commandany act, then none of them would waste moneyand time on these then essentially useless theirweak ties. Rather, as a rational human being, theywould find their own way depending solely ontheir strong ties. As an opposite form of relationshipthe strong ties on the other hand, are informaland primary (fundamental/original) in nature.They become parts of their close social networksnaturally, owing to their embeddedness in kinship(blood related and marital kin) and friendshipcircles. So, these are the strong and weak tiesituations in the study areas of Peninsular Malaysia.Nevertheless, to make clear how strong andweak ties are operationalized in this research,discussion on the following variables are incorporatedto extract ideas about the roles and modesof networking as a potential survival strategy.The variables and values are:Frequency - the following questions wereasked to find out how often actors of a networkmeet or get chances for interpersonal interaction:With whom are you living here? With whomare you working here? Do you have any fixedplace or area for community get together? Whereis this meeting place? When do you usually meet?How do you pass your leisure time? Normallywhere do you meet your inter-ethnic friends?Concerning these queries the following tableis constructed:Ethnic (61.3%)HousemateAlone (6.7%)Ethnicand inter-ethnic(32%)Co-workersEthnicAnd inter-ethnic(94.6%)Not fixed(5.3%)Source: Survey data in Peninsular Malaysia.Table 1 – Frequency of NetworksFixedplace forcommunityget togetherYes(97.3%)No(2.7%)WithinNeighbor-hood1-Enjoyingmovies athome (9.3%)2-Gossiping inlocal restaurant(12%)3-Visiting localfriends (10%)Passingleisure timeOutside1-Visiting Kotaraya(23.3%)2-Going to pub 12.7%)3-Attending religious,political meetings andcommunity get together(32.6%)Get togetherwith inter-ethnicfriends1-Housemates(18%)2-Workmates(48.7%)3-Mosjid andrestaurant(15.3%)4-Neighbour(18%)8
SULTANA NAYEEM, University of DhakaTable 1 denotes that apart from maintainingnetworks with their housemates, workmates andneighbors, Bangladeshis also attend different politicaland religious meetings and cultural celebrations.There are certain places for this kind ofcelebration which the migrants (both poor andbetter-off) try to visit. It is found that the betteroffmigrants become the conveners of these culturaland politico-religious programs, where poormigrants participate in their free times. They visitKotaraya (‘Bangla Bazaar’) to buy Bangladeshigoods from ethnic enterprises as well as to meetpowerful labor brokers.The data also indicates that the migrants’common living and working environment providesthem the opportunity for regular contactwith their ethnic and inter-ethnic friends. Thecommon living and working niche as well as everydayinteractions enable them to develop friendshipswith each other. In fact, along with thecommon experiences of immigration and everydaycontacts, they (the Bangladeshis) face moreor less the same realities as neighbors and workmates.Besides, they are found to spend their leisurehours together in their common surroundings(apart from visiting distant places and weaktie based networks). However, while the locals donot need to face an alien way of life (since theyare all insiders there), owing to regular correspondenceeither in local restaurants or at theirhome and work places both of these groups stillget the chance to construct networks. Bangladeshismeet the locals of Muslim belief in localmosque and “suraus”. Because of the same religiousbackground (Islam) most of the Bangladeshimigrants and their (Malay, Indian Muslim andIndonesians etc.) friends enjoy and practice moreor less similar religious festivals and rituals.Strength and Intensity - To pull out informationon the emotional intensity, reciprocal exchangeand respective obligations to each othersin the network some questions were asked, suchas:Whom do you consider your friend? How doyou define your friend? Why do you maintainnetworks? How do you manage jobs and workpermits? How did you get your dwelling place?Who introduced you to your employer? Where doyou go to acquire a better job and other facilities?Do you pay them? Why do you assistpoor/undocumented workers? How did you migrate?How do you send remittance to homecountry? How did you learn Bahasa? How doyou manage to cope here? Why are you livingtogether with others? How did/will you manageto stay longer? Why do you maintain homelandcontacts? Why did you prefer inter-ethnic marriage?How did you meet your inter-ethnicspouse? How did you manage your business visa?How did you get this property? How did youmanage risks?As a matter of fact, friendship ties werefound primarily within people of the same socioeconomicbackground. For example, un-skilledand semi-skilled workers identified other workersas their friends who often also were their housemates,neighbors and workmates. In the sameway, no professional and businessman was foundwho considered a semi-skilled and un-skilledworker as his or her friend. It is not likely that allof the neighbors or co-workers converted eachother’s friend. Nor was national brotherhood consideredas the only factor for friendship. Rather,migrants emphasized those as their friends whomthey could trust in need. According to RanjanMallik (he used to work in a furniture factory ofKajang),“My co-workers, likewise Bangladeshiworkers in Kajangjaya, are my friends. We arenot so well-off. We have to send money to ourfamilies. I also have some friends in my hometown. They take care of my family. Sometimes Isend gifts for them or try to make phone calls.But I don’t have any girlfriend. I also don’t likethe rich and educated Bangladeshis. They behavelike we are not their countrymen. I know theywould not assist me in danger. I don’t know anyfemale workers. It is better to avoid them, becausethey might create extra burdens and ourfamilies would not be happy about that.”It can be ascertained (from the above comment)that professionals and businessmen generallyare not friends with poor income groups. Atthe same time, it also assists us to know whatthey (the poor migrants) expect from theirfriends. Provision of trust, certainty, regular correspondenceand assistance are the qualitiesamong others through which their friendship isdefined. On the basis of these moral and reciprocalobligations (for each other) they maintainfriendship even with their home-based residues.Transnational networking helps them by allowingthem to maintain contact with their home basedfriends. They (the migrants) are also assured thattheir friends reciprocate their obligations to themigrants by taking care of their families. These9
Page 1 and 2: ФЕДЕРАЛЬНАЯ СЛУЖБА
Page 3 and 4: M.O. IZOTOV, Orel State Agrarian Un
Page 5 and 6: M.O. IZOTOV, Orel State Agrarian Un
Page 7: SULTANA NAYEEM, University of Dhaka
Page 12 and 13: Russian Journal of Agricultural and
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