Hope in the National Internship Programme

The success of this National Internship Programme is not measured by how quickly its quota is filled, but by how many genuine opportunities are created once the internship period ends. One possible answer to how university graduates can enter the workforce without enduring a long period of unemployment may lie in the National Internship Programme run by President Prabowo Subianto’s administration. Now in its second year, the programme has returned on a much larger scale than when it was first launched. The second batch officially opened on 29 June 2026 with a quota of 150,000 participants, an increase of nearly one and a half times compared to the previous year. They will be placed in 8,800 state-owned and private companies across Indonesia. The scheme is relatively simple. Diploma, bachelor’s, and professional education graduates who completed their studies within the last year undergo a six-month internship at partner companies, accompanied by mentors from among senior workers. During the programme, participants receive a monthly allowance ranging from Rp3.5 million to Rp6 million, adjusted to the minimum wage standards in their placement area. Compared to the first batch, this year’s National Internship Programme is also more inclusive. Whereas previously it was only for bachelor’s degree holders, the programme is now open to professional education graduates and persons with disabilities. The government has disbursed Rp4.2 trillion to finance the second batch of the National Internship Programme. This budget is part of a total of Rp6.26 trillion prepared in the second half of this year to reach 420 thousand beneficiaries, including interns, vocational training participants from high school and vocational school graduates, and workers recently affected by layoffs. The government’s optimism rests on the results of the first batch. Of the approximately 100 thousand participants last year, around 30 per cent, or 30 thousand people, have been recruited as permanent employees at the companies where they interned. Meanwhile, another 30 per cent are still undergoing the recruitment process. This achievement forms the basis of the belief that the programme is not merely a policy ceremony, but a bridge to the world of work that is beginning to show results. The response from public policy observers has also tended to be positive. The allowance scheme, which is equivalent to the minimum wage, is considered a breakthrough that has never been implemented on such a large scale before. The policy is seen as a state investment in strengthening the competence of new graduates amidst high rates of educated unemployment. Some observers even view the programme from a broader perspective as a social investment. If implemented consistently, the programme is considered to have the potential to reduce the restlessness among the younger generation that has recently been prominent in the digital sphere.