Family Communication Patterns of Indonesian Migrant Workers, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara

Abstract

Many Indonesians work as Indonesian Migrant Workers (TKI) abroad, most of them are from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, East Lombok district in particular. Becoming a migrant worker means being ready to leave your beloved family and closest people in your hometown to pursue a career in another country. Being separated by distances affects the communication process that occurs between workers and their families in their hometowns. This research will analyze family communication patterns that carried out by the families of Indonesian migrant workers using a phenomenological approach using qualitative descriptive methods. Specifically, this research will analyze the family's communication patterns before, during and after they work as migrant worker. The results shows that the family communication pattern carried out by Indonesian Migrant Workers from Jenggik Utara Village, East Lombok Regency, classified into three phases, namely the ‘initial’ phase of wanting to become a migrant worker, the ‘during’ phase when they actually work abroad, and the ‘after’ phase when they no longer being a migrant worker. Where overall they carry out primary communication patterns in the ‘initial’ phase and ‘after’ phase, while secondary communication patterns in the ‘during’ phase. Furthermore, the family relationship scheme that they implement is a consensual scheme, with a high level of conversation orientation and conformity, so the family members are open to each other in making decisions together, whether they want to leave the country to serve as migrant worker, or provide opportunities for their children to freely choose the path they will take in life in the future.