Alleged Human Trafficking through Internship, Students to be Paid in Millions

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Allegations of human trafficking under the guise of student internship programs in Germany continue to surface. One of the universities sending students to Germany for a ferienjob program is Universitas Jambi.

Tania (not her real name) participated in the ferienjob program last year. She revealed being employed at Auto-Kabel, a company specializing in automotive spare parts development.

"It's not assembling car frames. Our task was simply to attach labels to the inner frame, like barcodes," she told Tempo over the phone on Friday, March 22, 2024. This job significantly differs from her academic field of study.

Ferienjob is a part-time job for three months commonly undertaken by students in Germany during holiday seasons. The type of work usually relies on physical strength or rough labor.

In this job, she was paid in Euros. She received around Rp 30.5 million per month. She and other colleagues from various campuses had similar jobs. "We were given pocket money every week, but there would be deductions from our salaries later," she explained.

Tania and her peers learned about the Ferienjob program from Universitas Jambi's official Instagram. After applying, she was accepted as one of the 80 students. "Initially, we were skeptical, but we were told to pay. They said it would smoothen the process," she added.

Once accepted into the Ferienjob program, Tania promptly arranged for her visa, passport, tickets, and travel gear. The total amount spent on all these, plus the plane ticket, reached Rp 36 million. "We paid Rp 1.7 million for the Letter of Acceptance (LoA)," she mentioned.

Interning students were also asked to pay a contract fee of 350 Euros (Rp 5.9 million). However, initially, they were only required to provide 250 Euros. "But when we were about to leave, we were asked to add another 100 Euros," she said.

Additionally, Tania stated that she and other Ferienjob interns were required to pay Rp 5.1 million per month for accommodation expenses during their stay in Germany. This money was handed over to the coordinator in charge of them.

This coordinator also offered students to use advance funds if they didn't have enough money to buy departure plane tickets to Germany. Every month, they had to repay this advance from their salaries until the ticket price was fully paid.

"If I used my own money before, it wouldn't be a problem with them," she said.

Tania departed for Germany in October 2023. From Jambi to Jakarta, she used Lion Air. For the subsequent journey, Jakarta to Germany, she took an Etihad flight and landed at Frankfurt International Airport, Germany.

Ferienjob in High Demand among Students from Various Universities

On her way to Germany, Tania traveled with two other students from Universitas Negeri Semarang. All three of them were part of the second batch working at Auto-Kabel.

In total, there were 15 students in the second batch, while the previous batch had ten.

Tania recounted that Ferienjob interns came from various universities in Indonesia. As far as she remembered, some were from Universitas Haluoleo, Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi; Universitas Negeri Semarang, Central Java; and Universitas Pelita Harapan, Tangerang, Banten.

In Germany, Tania stayed in a simple apartment located in Maulburg, Baden-Württemberg. She would use the train to commute to work at Auto-Kabel Management GmbH, in Hausen im Wiesental. According to her, the people there were friendly. "The people are friendly," she said.

IKHSAN RELIUBUN

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