A tweet by a soon-to-be intern has surfaced on the Twittersphere. The tweet showed a photo of a female student wearing what looks like a cut from a box saying, ‘interns are not free laborers‘.
Starting my internship next semester, so I’ll be walking around with this to express my worry.
The gov increased min wage of RM1.5k, but this policy didn’t include interns.
Interns are unprotected by the employment act in Malaysia, hence the risk of exploitation by companies. pic.twitter.com/gxr6qmkZyq
This tweet has gained traction of 7.9 million views. She further explained it in the thread stating, “Living in Kuala Lumpur, how am I supposed to pay rent, food and transportation when I’m not paid with a minimum wage, at least?”
She added that interns should be paid with dignity and treated as employees of the company where they interned. “No more exploitation”, she wrote. She claimed that she will continue to fight for this right along with ‘demokratiksiswa‘, a Malaysian union for students.
This tweet has since sparked a debate among Twitter users. Some supported her cause by providing the realities that these students are facing i.e. interns welfare (overtime, leave, and work hours), bully cases etc. In addition, students are also required to pay the full amount of tuition fees during their internship despite the fact that they do not even go to classes or set foot in their respective educational institutions. You can find the tweet here:
Ramai yang persoalkan kewajaran mahasiswa mendesak agar isu #internbukanburuhpercuma ini diketengahkan.
Tapi tak ramai betul-betul nak tahu realiti pelajar intern.
Biar saya terangkan di sini :
In contrast, other Twitter users, such as those below, slammed her point of view since interns mostly do not carry the same weight of responsibilities as normal workers. Furthermore, the chances of companies taking in interns might be slim if the government were to set these students’ allowance to RM1500 a month.
You’re brave, I salute that.
However, interns aren’t employees. You do not carry the equal responsibility or bring the equal value as an employee. You haven’t even graduated.
I suggest you to focus on your studies and training instead. If possible, don’t mislead the young gen. https://t.co/XQIYdKUH0H
Salam sister
It is impossible for interns to be protected by EA since they are not employees
You are not paid a salary and other employee benefits but instead an internship allowance (which is not mandatory)
As intern, you are still a student of the univ. Your prof decides… https://t.co/Hj39wCALCq
Personally, I am a fan of Gen Z. They are the ones who know what they want and are vocal about it. As someone who had completed her internship without any allowances, I support her cause but I think since their service period is too short, it might affect companies more than they thought. It’s difficult to be fair because of this. After all, at the end of the day, they are still students. They need the training. Perhaps, the government can come up with clear guidelines as to what their training entails. This is to ensure that none of them is to be taken advantage of.
So, what do you think? Yes, minimum wage? No? Let me know in the comment section below.