Indonesian national textbooks are undergoing a significant transformation, exhibiting improved attitudes toward Jews, Israel, and minority groups, while also promoting gender equality and re-framing concepts such as jihad.
A new assessment by IMPACT-se, an international research and policy institute, highlights a “firm trajectory of growing inclusivity” in the country’s Merdeka Curriculum, aka Independent Curriculum. The study, which analyzed over 40 humanities textbooks from the new curriculum and compared them to earlier editions, found a closer alignment with UNESCO-derived educational standards of peace and tolerance.
“It is very encouraging to see that Indonesia’s textbooks are on a firm trajectory of growing inclusivity,” Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se said.
He noted that “negative portrayals of Israel found in earlier editions have been removed, signaling a more neutral and responsible educational approach.”
Sheff also emphasized that the curriculum now embraces Indonesia’s religious minorities, and that the attitude expressed in textbooks towards Jews and Judaism is increasingly positive. IMPACT-se anticipates this trend will continue, shaping the views of 58 million children.
The national curriculum has faced several changes in the curriculum content, namely on subjects including Judaism and the Jewish people, Israel and the Holocaust, and minorities. An emphasis on nonviolent interpretations of jihad is highlighted in the textbooks, and a more open view on gender identity and members of the LGBT community.
The Merdeka Curriculum presents a noticeably more balanced and tolerant portrayal of Jews, compared to preceding textbooks. It recognizes Jews as “People of the Book” deserving equality, affirms the Torah as partially aligned with the Quran, and even praises the “ecological wisdom of the Jewish Sabbath.”
Promotion of antisemitic stereotypes removed from textbooks
Textbooks highlight Prophet Muhammad’s “harmonious relations with Jews,” using examples such as his Charter of Medina to teach respect and peaceful coexistence. Christian textbooks also show progress, portraying Jesus as a Jew and emphasizing that Jews should not be collectively blamed for his death.
Crucially, content promoting antisemitic stereotypes of Jews as “greedy, deceitful, or dishonest” has been removed, including a passage on honesty involving Jews using counterfeit money, content stating Jews prioritize money in their daughters’ marriages, and a story of a Jew spitting on the Prophet Muhammad for money.
However, some outdated teachings remain, such as associating Jews with “evil magic” or portraying them as ungrateful.
When it comes to the Holocaust, it is barely taught, if at all. The Holocaust is “not taught,” but is alluded to in a Grade 12 textbook that briefly mentions Nazi hatred toward Jews as a serious human rights violation, without explicit reference or clear context.
International issues, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are not depicted as they previously were, and “isolated negative references to Israel as a rejected ‘colonizing country’ that ‘committed many human rights violations against Palestinians’” have been removed.
According to the report, Israel is “barely mentioned” with a rare example of Indonesia refusing to invite Israeli athletes to the Asian Games.
For minorities, a new subject, “Belief in the One Almighty God and Character Education,” formally recognizes Indonesia’s indigenous belief systems for the first time, alongside the six official religions. Minority ethnic and religious groups are presented as “vital to Indonesia’s independence and identity,” and prejudice, particularly against Chinese Indonesians, is condemned.
Students are also urged to value people with disabilities.
The curriculum now teaches and emphasizes a “greater number of nonviolent interpretations of jihad.”
A Grade 10 textbook clarifies that jihad is not solely about “taking up arms on the battlefield” or “extreme hostility,” but also about “promoting good and preventing vice” and ethical treatment of non-Muslims.
Historically, however, jihad is still often framed violently in the context of fighting colonial powers. The definition of kafir (“infidel”) has also become more nuanced, broadening to include those who prioritize worldly affairs or practice religion inconsistently, and cautioning against unjustified labeling while encouraging kindness toward non-hostile “infidels.”
The curriculum adopts a more even-handed stance on gender, promoting shared responsibilities for men and women in family and public life and addressing gender inequality as a social issue.
Notably, “explicit condemnation of LGBT identities” found in the previous curriculum has been removed, including passages defining “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender relationships” as “against human nature.”
One Christian textbook now implicitly accepts a non-binary definition by presenting a biblical account of the baptism of a eunuch with ambiguous sex.