Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah has said that many graduates from the government’s internship program with Japan have become workers and entrepreneurs.

“We have the desire to reduce unemployment. One of the ways to do that is through internships,” Fauziyah remarked in a written statement received here on Monday.

While opening the International Internship Dissemination in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Monday, she said that internships were part of the training process and involve the placement of participants in a company so that they can experience what it is like to be in a real-world working environment.

“Internship is part of training. An internship is not a sneaky way to obtain cheap manpower, no. An internship is part of a training process,” the minister explained.

International internships, especially to Japan, have been offered to Indonesian students since 1993, she pointed out. To this day, over 85,415 people have been sent to Japan to intern with companies, she informed.

According to Fauziyah, many former participants of the internship program have become successful entrepreneurs or have joined the business world, both in Japan and in the domestic market.

“They started from an internship into becoming a worker,” she said.

The internship program in Japan was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she noted. Japan’s government is limiting the presence of foreigners, including internship participants, she explained.

However, she said her ministry has been communicating with the Japanese government to open the internship program for Indonesian students. This request has followed the improvement in the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, she added.

“We have stated that we can control the pandemic. The positivity rate is down. We have conveyed this to Japan’s government so that the internship opportunity can be opened once more,” she said.

Source: Antara News