Internship Rights After Indonesia’s Job Creation Law
Internships are often presented as a bridge between legal education and professional practice. For students, they can provide valuable experience in law firms, companies, government offices, courts, and civil society organizations. Yet an internship can also become a source of vulnerability when students perform regular work without clear duties, supervision, compensation, or protection.
Indonesia’s Job Creation Law, formally Law No. 6 of 2023, reshaped several areas of employment regulation. Its influence on student internships is less direct than its effect on fixed-term employment, outsourcing, and termination. The central rules on domestic apprenticeship remain rooted in the Manpower Law and implementing regulations, especially Minister of Manpower Regulation No. 6 of 2020.
Understanding this distinction matters. A student should not assume that every placement is automatically protected as an employment relationship, but an organization should also not use the label “intern” to avoid labor obligations. The substance of the arrangement, its written terms, and the student’s actual activities all deserve careful examination.
The Legal Position Of An Internship
Under the Manpower Law, apprenticeship is intended to support vocational training through workplace learning. A lawful program should have a written agreement that explains the training curriculum, duration, rights, obligations, supervision, and evaluation process. The document is more than an administrative form: it helps establish whether the placement is genuinely educational.
The agreement should also identify the host institution and the apprentice, explain the learning objectives, and state the benefits available during the program. If an apprenticeship agreement is absent, the arrangement may be treated as an employment relationship under the statutory framework. This rule is significant for students who are asked to work without receiving any formal document.
Minister of Manpower Regulation No. 6 of 2020 provides a framework for domestic apprenticeships, including guidance, occupational safety and health, accident and death protection, allowances, and a certificate after completion. These safeguards do not mean that every internship must mirror a full-time job, but they establish a baseline against which a program can be assessed.
What The Job Creation Law Changes
The Job Creation Law and its implementing regulations primarily address broader employment relations. Government Regulation No. 35 of 2021, for example, regulates fixed-term employment agreements, working time, rest periods, outsourcing, and termination. These provisions may affect students who are hired under a separate employment contract after, or alongside, an internship.
The new framework does not automatically transform every internship into a fixed-term employment agreement. An internship is designed around training, while a PKWT is an employment contract for a particular job or period. Confusing these categories can harm students: a host may describe ordinary productive work as “training,” while a student may incorrectly believe that an internship automatically carries all rights of a regular employee.
The practical test is the reality of the arrangement. A placement deserves scrutiny when a student carries a normal workload, follows employee schedules, meets production targets, replaces a paid worker, receives little supervision, or performs duties unrelated to a training curriculum. These indicators do not settle every legal dispute, but they can reveal possible misclassification.
Written Terms And Student Protection
Before accepting a placement, students should review the duration, work location, supervisor, learning outcomes, attendance requirements, evaluation method, and exit procedure. The agreement should also explain whether an allowance is provided, how expenses are handled, and what protection applies if an accident occurs. Ambiguous promises made through chat messages should not replace a clear written document.
Students entering event committees, legal projects, or short-term professional programs should apply the same care to their agreements. A practical contract negotiation guide can help them identify unclear duties, payment terms, cancellation provisions, and responsibility for losses before signing.
Confidentiality and intellectual property clauses also deserve attention. A student may handle client records, research data, case files, or campaign materials. The host should explain what may be used in a portfolio, what must remain confidential, and whether the student will receive credit for research or drafting work. These issues are especially important for law students, whose assignments can involve sensitive personal and institutional information.
| Area | Legal baseline | Practical implication for students |
|---|---|---|
| Written agreement | A domestic apprenticeship should be documented with clear terms | Request the agreement before beginning work |
| Training purpose | Activities should follow a curriculum and support skill development | Question duties that resemble routine employee work |
| Allowance and protection | Apprenticeship rules provide for specified benefits and safety protection | Clarify payment, insurance, and accident procedures |
| Fixed-term employment | PKWT rules apply to employment relationships, not automatically to internships | Do not assume an internship and PKWT are interchangeable |
| Completion evidence | A participant may receive a certificate after completing the program | Keep attendance records, evaluations, and certificates |
The Risk Of Misclassification
Misclassification occurs when an organization calls a relationship an internship even though the student performs the functions of an employee. This practice can transfer business costs to students, who may work long hours, receive minimal support, and lack access to social protection. It can also undermine the purpose of university internship programs by treating education as unpaid labor.
The label used by the host is not the only relevant factor. Evidence may include schedules, instructions, payroll records, task lists, performance targets, messages from supervisors, and proof that the student filled a permanent role. Students should preserve these materials lawfully and avoid disclosing confidential client information when documenting their experience.
Universities also have responsibilities. An academic internship office should evaluate host institutions, provide standard agreements, monitor student welfare, and establish a complaint process that does not depend entirely on the host’s goodwill. Faculty-level student organizations can support this process by collecting anonymized reports and identifying recurring patterns across placements.
Enforcement And Collective Advocacy
A student who experiences withheld allowances, unsafe conditions, harassment, excessive working hours, or a placement unrelated to the agreed curriculum should first record the issue and use the internal reporting channel. The university, internship coordinator, or designated supervisor may be able to resolve the problem quickly, especially when the agreement clearly supports the complaint.
Where internal channels fail, students may seek assistance from a local manpower office, legal aid organization, labor advocacy group, or another authorized institution. The appropriate route depends on the facts and the student’s status. Legal advice is particularly important when the host denies the existence of an apprenticeship agreement or threatens retaliation.
Individual complaints are important, but collective advocacy can address structural problems. Student councils can publish model clauses, conduct surveys, negotiate minimum standards with partner institutions, and urge faculties to suspend placements with repeat violations. Research and public discussion can also clarify how the Job Creation Law operates in practice rather than treating the word “internship” as a complete legal answer.
Practical Steps Before Signing
Students can reduce risk by treating an internship agreement as a legal document and an educational plan at the same time. A short review before the first day may prevent disputes about workload, payment, confidentiality, and supervision later.
Universities and host institutions should also recognize that student protection strengthens the quality of professional training. Clear standards create better learning environments and make it easier to distinguish genuine apprenticeships from disguised employment.
- Ask for a written agreement and review every clause before starting.
- Confirm the supervisor, curriculum, duration, allowance, insurance, and certificate process.
- Keep records of schedules, assignments, attendance, payments, and important communications.
- Report unsafe conditions, harassment, or unrelated workloads through university channels.
- Seek legal or labor assistance when the arrangement appears to conceal regular employment.
Making Internship Policy Work For Students
The effect of the Job Creation Law on student internships is therefore measured less by a single new provision than by how employment categories are applied. Existing apprenticeship protections remain meaningful when students, universities, and host institutions insist on written terms, genuine training, safety, and accountability.
Dema Justicia can contribute by turning student experiences into careful advocacy: gather evidence, protect confidentiality, compare agreements, and bring recurring problems into faculty and public discussion. Students who understand their rights are better positioned to negotiate fair placements and challenge practices that undermine education. Use these standards to review an internship agreement, document violations, and build stronger protections across the Faculty of Law.
