Legal Awareness Lab: Penguatan Kesadaran Hukum Pekerja Migran Indonesia melalui Simulasi Dilema dan Komitmen Preventif

Abstract

Abstract. Legal awareness among Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) needs to be strengthened because knowledge of legal rules is not always accompanied by the ability to recognize risks, assess consequences, and determine safe actions when facing pressure in employment relationships. The urgency of this activity lies in the normalization of risky practices, such as surrendering personal documents, accepting employment changes without written evidence, making payments without documentation, and using unverified intermediaries. This community engagement activity aimed to strengthen PMI’s legal awareness and readiness for preventive behavior through the Student Community Engagement Program of the Faculty of Law, Universitas Riau Kepulauan, at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Malaysia. The activity was conducted from 16 to 19 July 2026 and involved six participants. The method employed a dilemma-based legal awareness laboratory and behavioral commitment through four stages: initial legal-orientation mapping, legal-dilemma circles, role-reversal simulation and reflection, and the development of preventive actions. Evaluation used a Legal Orientation Inventory on a four-point scale, a scenario-based decision-making rubric, and participant reflection analysis. The indicators included acceptance of the function of law, risk sensitivity, confidence in using institutions, and readiness for preventive action. The results showed that the average legal-orientation score increased from 2.52 to 3.50, representing an increase of 0.98 points. The average simulation decision-making score reached 3.50 out of 4, with five participants achieving good or very good categories. All participants developed preventive action pledges covering document protection, payment records, contract-change verification, confirmation through official channels, and personal-data protection. The findings indicate that strengthening legal awareness should focus on risk assessment and preventive behavior, rather than legal information alone.