Interns should not be treated as free labor - KJ

SHAH ALAM - Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has urged the government to come out with clear guidelines to address the issue of unpaid interns during their industrial training programmes.

He highlighted that exploitation can occur in the absence of specific laws and regulations.

"Guidelines are necessary to ensure justice for interns and employers alike.

"Without clear guidelines, employers may take advantage of interns by assigning them tasks beyond their expectations, essentially exploiting them as free labor.

"The purpose of industrial training is to provide valuable experience to young workers, not to exploit them as cheap or unpaid labor," he said in the 'Keluar Sekejap' podcast today.

The government recently expressed its commitment to examining the issue of allowances for students undergoing industrial training or internships, acknowledging the need to address the matter seriously.

Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar said that interns should not be treated as free labor.

Commenting further, Khairy noted that regulations should be developed to uphold the main purpose of internships, which is to provide valuable experience.

"If laws and regulation seem to consider the interns as permanent workers or the interns themselves wished to be seen as permanent workers and they demand to be such as permanent workers, then for me it should not happen," he added.

While acknowledging the contributions interns make to companies and organisations, Khairy highlighted that the organisations provide more value to the interns.

He urged interns to be realistic in their expectations and to remember that they are not permanent workers.