This paper addresses population movement in Indonesia within the broader contexts of human development. Human movement, voluntary and involuntary, is a reflection of the people initiatives and responses to the changing nature of society and economy. As a large archipelagic state, movement of people across the country, historically, has always an important dimension of social formation in Indonesia. The paper however focuses on movement of people in the last four decades. It aims to examine the connection between migration and its wider social and economic contexts, looking at how politics shape migration policy and in turn, how migration affects policy making. The paper discusses at length recent issues of overseas labor migration, particularly on the apparently embedded inertia within the policy making processes. The continuing incidences of irregular migration, forced migration and human trafficking obviously mirror the incapacity of the state in properly managing the movement of people. The insufficient data and information generally hampered any conclusive linkages of migration and human development. With or without state’s proper policies people will continuously on the move enriching human development in Indonesia.
