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?

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.