Reevaluating our internship policies (Poll Inside)

The spark: Rashifa Aljunied, 24, advocating for paid internships with her placard reading ‘Intern Bukan Buruh Percuma’. — Others

TO pay or not to pay, that seems to be the burning question among Malaysian interns and employers for the past weeks.

It all started when Twitter user @youngaljuneid posted a picture of herself with a placard that said: “Intern Bukan Buruh Percuma” (interns are not free labour). She was referring to the fact that the increase in the minimum wage does not cover interns, and that interns are not protected by the Employment Act, increasing their risk of exploitation by companies.

Interns past, present and future came forward to share their experiences in the replies. Many shared that they struggled with the meagre allowance given and puzzled over how to survive their internships.

“I was struggling throughout my internship and [could] only eat once a day,” one person wrote.

The minimum allowance for internships in federal government departments is RM900 a month; in the private sector it’s between RM300 and RM900 a month. Some even go unpaid.

Some reasoned that internships are an opportunity to learn from the company and that companies were paying in terms of work experience.

Some further suggested that an internship and a job should not be confused with one another.

This is a multilayered issue that poses two key questions: Should interns be paid, and should interns be entitled to minimum wages?

For the first question, it is an unquestionable yes for me.

While it is undeniable that interns gain valuable experience, they still have to bear the costs of transportation, food and possibly accommodation.

This applies to Kuala Lumpur in particular, to which students from all over the country flock for internships as it is Malaysia’s financial and economic hub. The burden of sustaining themselves in a city infamous for its high cost of living while getting minimal to no pay is unimaginable.

To put this into perspective: A single person living in KL and taking public transport requires a minimum of RM1,870 a month according to Belanjawanku (a 2022 Universiti Malaya study). Under the National Structured Internship Programme most interns are paid between RM800 and RM1,200 a month.

Further consideration must be taken of students undergoing vocational internships, which are a compulsory requirement for a higher learning qualification. These students should receive allowances so that they can sustain themselves and safeguard their graduation.

The argument that interns require training and do not contribute much to a company does not hold water either.

It is no secret that high bars are set in internship applications these days. Equally logical is that higher-skilled interns are much preferred. Thus, employers cannot discount the work completed by students during their internship, and not compensating them would be unfair.

Whether interns are entitled to minimum wages is an undoubtedly more complex issue, partially because of how we define an employee. According to the Employment Act 1955, an employee is someone who has entered into a contract of service with wages below RM2,000 a month.

Schedule 1 of the Act treats an apprentice as an “employee” but this is only applicable for a training period of not less than two years. This allows for the argument that internship exists outside the realms of “employment”.

So effectively, interns are not protected by the Employment Act nor the National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011.

Malaysian Employers Federation president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman also reasoned that imposing a fixed wage for interns would only “drive smaller companies away from hiring students for industrial training”, according to a report.

Youth represent an important part of Malaysia’s current and future labour force, playing an indispensable role in contributing to the development of the nation’s economy.

Well-designed internship policies will nurture young individuals who can become part of a valuable workforce and foster better labour market advancement.

I hope the Youth and Sports Ministry will consider making it compulsory to pay allowances to students who undergo industrial training in the private sector, an issue it has promised to take to the Cabinet for deliberation.

At the very least a stipulation on what is a reasonable allowance for interns should be defined.

Beyond the issue of wages, the lack of legal status for unpaid interns effectively excludes them from being protected by labour rights such as pay for overtime work and protection against workplace discrimination.

A key stakeholder who should be more actively engaged in discussions on this issue is local higher education institutions. The compulsory requirement for vocational internships is pushing an endless supply of interns into the market, but there is no guarantee that there is sufficient demand for each of them to have a spot.

Without adequate guidance, the influx of interns in the job market may result in students taking internships unrelated to their fields of study. The limited availability of internships can also lead to interns accepting subpar treatment.

To address these challenges, higher education institutions should establish stronger partnerships with companies to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality internships.

Perhaps a tax incentive could be introduced by the government as a means of encouraging private companies to accept interns and compensate them appropriately.

A Khazanah Research Institute paper on this issue perhaps sums it up best: “Youth are caught between demanding fair treatment and securing working experience for future employment opportunities.”

Interns, whether we like it or not, are part of the nation’s labour force and deserve to be treated with the accorded dignity and respect.

Student Jonathan Lee traces his writing roots to the The Star’s BRATs (young journalists) programme, which he has written for since 2016. He is now a Malaysian youth advocate. The views expressed here are solely his own.