Religious Affairs Ministry: LGBT Prevention to Enter Curriculum from Grade 4

The Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) is currently developing educational materials aimed at preventing the spread of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) culture, which will be incorporated into the education curriculum. Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Romo Muhammad Syafi’i stated that the materials are targeted to be introduced to students starting from the fourth grade of primary school. This initiative follows Presidential Regulation No. 111 of 2025 concerning the General Policy on National Defence for 2025-2029, which categorises the spread of LGBT culture as a non-military threat. “Regarding LGBT… there is Presidential Regulation 111 of 2025, where the President stated that culture, meaning the spread of LGBT culture, is a non-military threat to national defence, not the individuals themselves,” Syafi’i said at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Monday. Syafi’i explained that the regulation does not target individuals but rather the dissemination of the culture. Consequently, the Ministry is compiling materials to be inserted into the existing curriculum. “So the President is not attacking the individuals, but the spread of that culture. That is a threat to national defence. Because of that, the Ministry of Religious Affairs is developing a curriculum, which will later be inserted into the existing curriculum,” he said. According to Syafi’i, the materials will be integrated into the learning curriculum for students from the fourth grade of primary school. He noted that the materials have been collected and are currently in the finalisation stage before being added to the curriculum. “Providing understanding from the primary school level, perhaps starting from grades 4, 5, and 6. Then for lower secondary school, grades 1, 2, and 3. Upper secondary school, grades 1, 2, and 3. Hopefully, with this, they can understand the dangers of the spread of LGBT culture,” Syafi’i said. “This is currently being finalised. The materials have all been collected, we are now refining them, and later they will be inserted into the ongoing curriculum,” he continued. Furthermore, Syafi’i revealed that the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is initiating the drafting of an academic paper regarding the prohibition of the spread of LGBT culture. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has been invited to serve as a resource person in the drafting process. “Additionally, if this is a prohibition on dissemination, then there must be a law. The MUI has already taken the initiative, and we have been invited to be resource persons for the creation of the academic paper on prohibiting the spread of LGBT culture,” he said. “So it is addressed at the educational level, and there is also law enforcement. Once again, in quotation marks, this does not target individuals who experience that orientation deviation,” he added.