Global Markets
Home›Global Markets›Trade & Tariffs›Indonesia drafts anti-LGBT education materials after s…
Indonesia drafts anti-LGBT education materials after security listing
The new guidance would cover regular and Islamic schools, Friday sermons, and family development programs, as the issue was added to a presidential security threat list.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs is drafting educational materials designed to discourage the spread of what officials call “LGBT culture,” following a presidential regulation that lists the issue among the country’s non-military security threats, according to SCMP Economy.
Officials said the content is still under discussion and could be incorporated into religious instruction in regular and Islamic schools, as well as Friday prayer sermons and family development programmes and other religious events.
The government said the presidential regulation is not intended as a basis for criminalising any group. However, experts and queer activists cited by SCMP Economy warned that introducing the topic in classrooms could deepen stigma, despite arguments that there is no scientific proof such education can change sexual orientation.
In remarks reported by SCMP Economy, the ministry’s vice-minister of religion, Romo Muhammad Syafi’i, said the draft is a follow-up to a 2025 presidential regulation that added the spread of homosexuality to non-military national security threats alongside separatism, terrorism, and online gambling.