Trapped in debt, forced into labour

Nearly 2,000 Indonesian uni students duped into doing bogus internships in Germany

- Linda Yulisman

When she was promised 20 university credits and an "easy and light" job that would pay up to 30 million rupiah (S$2,550) a month, undergraduate Ramayana Monica, 22, was eager to begin an internship programme in Germany.

But she soon realised it was not the kind of overseas experience she had signed up for.

Over three months in late 2023, she was forced to toil over odd jobs in different parts of western Germany, from sorting fruits in a farm to moving heavy goods in a warehouse and removing wallpaper and floorboards from an apartment.

"When I was there, I was no longer a student but a manual labourer... I felt fatigued and cold after working long hours, and was starving," Ms Ramayana told The Straits Times, adding that while her school had stressed that the jobs would not align with her major in public administration, she thought she would at least get an office job.

"The (Germany-based) employment agency even forced us to sign work contracts, abandoned us and deducted our wages without any transparency," she added.

Still, she gritted her teeth and completed the so-called internship so she could pay off most of the costs to participate in the programme. She returned to Jakarta safely on Dec 31, 2023.

Ms Ramayana, who attends the University of Jambi in Sumatra, is among some 1,900 Indonesian university students who were duped into paying huge fees for bogus internships that claimed to be part of an official German working holiday programme known as ferienjob.

The Indonesian police are investigating human trafficking allegations related to the scheme, after four Indonesians raised the alarm in May 2023. While on the "internship", they ran out of money after being owed their wages and contacted the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin for help.