Apindo Calls for Technical Clarity on National Internship Allowance Sharing Scheme
The Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) assesses that the government’s proposal for companies to contribute to paying part of the allowances for National Internship Programme participants requires further technical discussion to avoid burdening the business world.
Apindo’s Manpower Committee Chairman Subchan Gatot stated that this burden-sharing scheme must consider companies’ financial conditions.
“Regarding burden sharing or shared financing, employers hope for further dialogue on its technical implementation, especially to ensure this burden is not burdensome, particularly for labour-intensive industrial sectors,” Gatot told ANTARA in Jakarta on Wednesday.
As is known, the government previously requested that companies bear 20-30% of the allowances for participants in the second phase of the National Internship Programme, after the first phase was fully funded by the government.
Gatot views this policy plan as having two sides.
On one hand, company contributions are seen to encourage improved programme quality as companies will be more serious in providing mentorship and relevant internship tasks.
“Especially amid layoff issues and declining expansion, companies could become more selective or reluctant to accept large numbers of participants,” he said.
In agreement, Professor of Labour Law at the University of Krisnadwipayana Payaman Simanjuntak assesses that the scheme risks pressuring business participation.
According to him, the interest of companies, especially medium and large-scale ones, has already been limited even though in the initial phase the government fully covered the participants’ allowances.
“If now the government encourages companies to contribute 20-30% of the internship participants’ allowances, it’s reasonable. But the intention needs to be clear: is it as an addition for the interns or to reduce the government’s burden?” Payaman said.
In the initial programme phase, companies were generally only asked to provide transport and meal allowances for internship participants. Therefore, clarity on the policy’s objectives is deemed important to avoid uncertainty for business actors.
“We ask them to share (the allowance burden). Yes, 20-30% borne by corporations,” said Airlangga during the Jakarta Globe Insight event in Jakarta last Tuesday (29/4).
In the first phase, the government already covered 100% of the participants’ allowances, so for subsequent phases, a burden-sharing scheme needs to be encouraged.
“Burden sharing must be pushed. Last time it was 100% paid by the government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Manpower Yassierli has closed the implementation of the 2025 National Internship Programme Phase I, which ran from 20 October 2025 to 19 April 2026.
From the selection process, 16,112 participants passed, consisting of 14,952 in phase 1A and 1,160 in phase 1B. However, the number of active participants decreased to 11,949, namely 11,110 in phase 1A and 839 in phase 1B.
Participants who complete the six-month programme will receive an internship certificate, while those who follow for more than three months but less than six months will receive a certificate of participation.