Labour Minister Writes to Prabowo, Proposes Increasing National Internship Participants to 150,000

Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Yassierli has proposed increasing the number of participants in the 2026 national internship programme to 150,000 people. He stated that enthusiasm for the programme is extremely high.

This was conveyed by Yassierli during a Working Meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), at the Parliamentary Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Thursday (9/4/2026). It is known that in 2025, the total number of participants who passed the selection for this programme was around 100,000.

“So last year in 2025, the total number of participants who passed the selection was 102,000 something, because some then withdrew due to being accepted at workplaces or deciding not to proceed, so we selected more than the quota,” said Yassierli during the meeting.

Yassierli also proposed an additional 150,000 internship participants for 2026. He mentioned that the proposal has already been submitted to President Prabowo Subianto.

“Respected Sir and Madam, so based on the evaluation which we haven’t conducted comprehensively yet but is still ongoing, we see the extraordinary enthusiasm from the participants,” said Yassierli.

“Then the appreciation from companies, we have proposed the 2026 internship programme, we propose increasing the number to 150,000 people. But, Madam Chair, this is just a proposal, yes, the letter has already been submitted to Mr President,” he continued.

His side stated that they are still awaiting budget availability for the national internship programme. Yassierli hopes for support from the Ministry of Finance to the Coordinating Ministry so that the programme can run smoothly.

“And we are still waiting for budget availability and hopefully with support from, from the Ministry of Finance, from the Coordinating Ministry, this programme can be implemented. So the hope from the internship participants earlier that this internship programme can continue this year can indeed be realised,” he added.