Minister Karding Calls The Internship Program Abroad The Mode Of Work Findings Gives Low Wages

Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Minister Abdul Kadir Karding At DPD RI (DOK Public Relations KemenP2MI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) Abdul Kadir Karding revealed the reason his ministry categorized the internship program abroad as part of Indonesian migrant workers.

The internship program is often used as a job seeker mode to provide smaller wages.

"I'm sorry I have to say this. Actually this is just a mode of getting a lab bribe, a cheap workforce," said Karding during a meeting with Committee III of the DPD RI, Jakarta, Tuesday, February 25.

The mode of getting workers with a small wage, said Minister Karding, is often found in countries such as Japan and South Korea. In fact, those who take part in internship programs abroad should get a salary according to the workers there.

"Because when he was said to be an intern, for example his salary was only Rp. 10 million. But when he was declared a job, his salary became Rp. 25 million," said Minister Karding.

Therefore, Karding said that his ministry would improve governance for people who want to take part in internship programs abroad. Thus, get their full rights.

"Well, in the future, we want to rearrange this, we imitate the Philippines, the joint work internship is considered to be working. So we have to fix it bilaterally with the Japanese state governments and so on," said Karding.

As a reminder, this internship mode was once revealed by the Police. The disclosure of the TIP case after four students who were victims came to the Indonesian Embassy in Germany. They told what was experienced.

The Indonesian Embassy also traced the internship program in question. It turns out that there are 33 universities in Indonesia that also run the program. It was recorded that around 1,047 students had departed.

The internship program is known to be completed by PT CVGEN and PT SHB. The two companies promised students an internship in Germany.

However, they were asked to pay Rp150 thousand and 150 euros. The reason is the cost of making a letter of acceptance (LOA) to PT SHB. Not only that, they were also asked to pay another 200 Euros to PT SHB. Its designation is the creation of an approval of the German authorities or working permit.