I do find it a bit absurd about this internship program in Malaysia, the students have no right in saying 'no' to any company the university has assigned them to, they are not allowed to ask about pay or even allowance, they are to work according to what the company told them to, they are not protected by law or even insurance, they are not entitled to medical leave(s), overtime pay & so forth. A conclusion from myself: They are just a bunch of cheap, if not free, unprotected labour of Malaysia.

I've been searching through the net but I can't find anything related to the laws on internship program's students, not even labour law.

My daughter started her intership program in May 2009, she was asked to attend an interview in the midst of her classes, so she literally had to 'ponteng' her class back in Kampar, came back all the way to KL for the interview in April 2009. As instructed by the Dean, she's not allowed to ask about salary & stuff, the only instruction she received was, she's supposed to listen & obey to whatever the company will or had assigned her to do, she should be grateful for the company's willingness to take her, therefore, no question or complain should be forwarded no matter what.

She got her 'appointment letter' few days before her internship, telling her she'll get an allowance of RM450 nett per month & she's required to start earlier instead of 1st June 2009. She has been working long hours, IE from 8am-6+, sometimes 7pm everyday, even on Saturdays. She's required to do ALL the jobs including those of washing of cups & plates in addition to her main training, IE telemarketing, data entries, filing, printing, photocopying, road shows, training classes, E.T.C. She was even requested to drive & buy food for a vegetarian participant on her own account which ended up she got lost on the highway due to a mislead map given by the restaurant and another student was being summoned to collect the food by a taxi paid by my daughter.

Her 'allowance' was being deducted for a one day medical leave, despite a proper medical leave certificate was being submitted. I can understand if no EPF contribution being done, but not even SOCSO? No transportation, food or whatsoever allowance is given on occassions which they are required to serve at road shows, exhibitions, training grounds, places away from the office premise, and whenever the forgetful 'manager' should have walked in before 6pm remembering something should be done (which happened almost everyday), they are to finish the task before going home (She travels to & from work by LRT, I have to standby & wait for her call to pick her up everyday).

I wanted to have a word with this company, but my daughter response was: "Noooo, this internship cost me a total of 40 marks, whether I'll get an A or not really depends on their report!", I guess that is why students would rather keep their mouths shut & endure those few months' suffers?

from my point of view..
actually interns are just "additional" workers to a company..
cos' they do not need you indeed to contribute anything to the company...
interns just go to the company to learn things and get experience...
just like need to pay fees when you going to school classes...

but i feel that for certain companies...
if the interns fulfill their requirements of an employee..
they should pay them certain amount of wages instead of nothing or too low wages...

for eg:
if the intern able to complete all the tasks or jobs been assigned and the job is similar to that of other employees in the company, then i think the company should pay a reasonable wage to them.


I have some friends also undergoing their internship in a company..named MXSXMO (may I type out the full name)...
I could tell that the employers are so unkind that they only pay my friends RM250 basic + RM5/form for commission...
their job is selling credit cards like what other people is doing..

the problem is they are assigned to different shopping complex...
can you imagine that they have to spend for the food and parking fees which are considered as quite expensive for a student?
morover the restaurants are all selling "not cheap" food, as well as for in the food court..

they are forced to spend so much in a day..
probably about RM13 (1 meals + parking fees), minimum per day..
RM13 x 24 = RM3xx (haven add petrol fees yet)

and they gotto work from noon till late of the night..
some customer still asking them why don't they buy some free gifts to attract more customers..
cos for market price in selling credit cards...
employee will be entitled to commission of nearly to RM80 or more for a sales..
but the customers do not know they only have RM5 commission instead of RM80 per sales..
and they were required to go outstation too..

1 week 6 days, have to stand from noon to night, no compensation for transportation or pertol or parking,
and they only pay you RM250 for basic + RM5/commission...
anyone interested in this job...?'


I just feel that this company is little bit too over in the way of treating the interns...
the interns even need to 'pay' to work..
interns are still students..
no income yet...
although they are given commission but do you think selling credit cards is an easy job..?'
some will only apply if there's free gift...
can't they think and treat the interns in a more considerate way and pay them reasonably since they did the same job as others too..?!!"

my friends also telling the same thing that they cannot complain to the company or uni cos' of the same reason..
so sad and sick of this kind of unkind employers...
probably they just thinking of their own benefits and advantages...!!!




This post has been edited by tracywee: Aug 4 2009, 04:31 PM

Intership are meant for students to learn to do things on the field (practical), rather than mere study (theory), but nevertheless, there are companies using interns to make a huge profit just because of some loop holes in the laws.

Take this company my daughter is in for instant, they have 10 sub companies under one roof, with less than 10 permanent staff. All their work force come from intern students. At one time, they will take in some 5-6 students, each with a fixed allowance of RM450/month, serving 10 companies work load, even the cleaning-up after each function, training class, etc., are done by the students. They still have to pay tuition fees to the university although there are no classes to attend, and for those live in other state, they still have to pay for the rooms' rental back in Kampar, and the few months' rental on whichever state their internship is in.

Aren't there supposed to, at least have a guideline for the government to impose for the welfare/benefit for these intern students?

No doubt those companies provide them a learning environment, but for the same time, the students provide them with their service, time and effort, do they not entitled to a fairer treatment?

There's not a single guideline on interns, it was like.. take it or leave it. If you take it, some companies are just taking the advantage to ill-treat the kids in a way. If you leave it, then, too bad.. there goes your marks.

My daughter's intern will soon be over, another month to be exact, I could just ask her to take things quietly, finish it, get your marks, and wash our hands, but come to think of it, will this kind of attitude help our next generation in any way? Does it has to be the-usual-wait-til-something-bad-happened, and the student was not even a member of SOCSO's contributor because the law never state so, then only the authority(s) concern will finally step in to 'look into the matter'?

I've visited the labour law's website, sadly, the search on the word 'internship student' came out negative.

i would say internship student is consider cheap labor in the company. when i was i did my intern few years ago in one of the manufacturing company, the pay was shit. yes, there didn't have any benefit.. even thought not any paid holiday. i think it's a little bit unfair.. but student doesn't have any option and dare not to argue too much as afraid of the manager will terminate the contract anytime. why? because he/she just want to get some commercial experience before graduate.
but the bright side is when you have graduate from your degree, it will helps you a lot when you are applying job. at least you can stand out from the crowd when you are applying job.

I also facing the same thing during my internship. The purpose of internship is to learn thing that cannot be learn from books and the company will treat their interns like cheap labour and give them many work. The intention is to want them to learn.

Good morning.

I shall address your concerns as per paragraph by paragraph.

Para 1: Students have the right to say "No" to the assigned company that they will be conducting their internship. There are no prefixes. Asking for salary/wages is viewed as not appropriate as they are seeking internship. NOT ALL COMPANY would accept interns. Usually the intern will not be in the primary payroll report. In addition, IF wages are given, it will normally be paid out cash. However, there's no written law that states the minimum wages to be paid to interns.

Para 2: Grateful for the company's willingness to take her? Yes, considering the facts. For the interview, the date of interview may be arranged in favour of convenience as your daughter is having her class on that particular day. I believe that can be pre arranged. Listen and obey? That's fine. As long as yu don't listen and obey mindlessly and blindly.

Para 3: Allowance of RM450 nett per month? Sounds a OKIE to me. Long hours of working? From 8am to 6pm or 7pm, even on Saturdays? That's a bit pushing but that's internship all about. A little bit stressing won't hurt. What really disturbs me is the work load assigned to your daughter. Some ARE IRRELEVANT in her line of studies/intership. Oh come on! Washing cups and plates + food delivery? That's really downright absurd and wrong. Your daughter should speak up and voice this matter. Though it may seemed like a trivial matter but I think your daughter is being pushed over.

Para 4: Your daughter has SOCSO before? Off site work without any allowances? Although it's not obligatory but it's deemed tight in the pocket.

Para 5: 40 marks weightage is heavy. Back in my Univ time, 40% has an overwhelming affect on the CGPA. If I were your daughter, I would say the same thing as her. It's not about keeping their mouths shut and endure the internship process in bitter silence. As long as she can take it, it'll be alright.

Being a good mum that loves and cares for her daughter is very tough and it's really demanding. But sometimes being overly protective will only turn things sour. Talk to daughter, ask her how's her day...give her some room to breathe and I'm sure she'll overcome the negativity that stems from the internship at the company she's being assigned.

Regards, Joey

p.s: Personally I think the company she's assigned to is a bit pushy, unaccommodating, not professional and bloody exploitive. Driving out to get food? What happens if your daughter caught up with some "complexities"? Who will bear the responsibility? I think the company didn't think of the consequences.

This post has been edited by Joey Christensen: Aug 5 2009, 10:51 AM

as far as i concern.. many of the companies that intend to get cheap workforce will not care about the interns but only their own benefits...

Interns are benefiting from the experience far more from what the company can gain from your experience at the it.

Having said that, there are plenty companies out there which are far more professional with regards to providing an internship experience.
It is a medium for them to market themselves to students in order to up their reputation.

Unless someone makes a huge issue out of it, I am afraid majority of companies out there will continue to exploit interns.

luckily my internship was a breeze

Anyone serving as interns now? Can share which companies are good?

interns consider as cheap labour from my point of view....
My intern program for 1st 2 weeks was deep shit as most of the time they ask me to do photostatting and document arrangement.
After that it was awesome as they really involve me in the field I'm related with...

it really depends. you cant generalize all industry

wow, what kind of company is this? I got my internship through Jobstreets and I have reject the uni offered due of my transportation problems. Just curious about that, must we take the job offered from the university?

I don't think so...and I am were you, i think i will first complained to the university about the Dean. I believe that the uni have a guidelines about the internship and not simply simply can let the company abused it.

cannot choose where u want to do for it?