Three Southeast Asian Countries Again Study Religious Literacy in Indonesia

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – Six delegates from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam came to Indonesia to study cross-cultural religious literacy program developed by the country's Leimena Foundation. They spent nearly a week in Jakarta from August 19–23, 2026, learning about and observing Indonesia’s experience with the literacy program, which has reportedly trained more than 11,000 teachers and educators.

“We want to share the experience we have in Indonesia because the cross-cultural religious literacy program aims to build social cohesion and is closely related to our nation’s efforts to manage diversity,” Executive Director of the Leimena Institute, Matius Ho, said at a press conference on the literacy immersion program in Jakarta on Friday, August 21, 2026.

Cross-cultural religious literacy is an approach to thinking, behaving, and acting to be able to work together with people of different religions and beliefs. Leimena Institute said it has three competences: understanding one's own religion, especially in relations with fellow humans of different religions; understanding other religions from their own perspective; and understanding how to collaborate while respecting differences.

Matius welcomed the opportunity to share the program’s experience with other Southeast Asian countries. The Leimena Foundation said the immersion program has been held four times since 2025, with a total of 24 delegates from Cambodia, the Philippines, Laos, and Vietnam visiting Indonesia to learn about the program.

“It is not about trying to replicate what we do in Indonesia, because every country certainly has a different context. We want them to see that, based on what they have learned from Indonesia, there are good practices that could be useful in their own countries, and from there we can build cooperation,” Matius said, as quoted from the foundation's press release received by RRI Voice of Indonesia on Friday.

Matius said the immersion program provides ASEAN delegates with a comprehensive experience of Indonesia’s literacy model. For example, delegates from the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education of the Philippines' Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) were invited to observe the program in Ambon, Maluku in the past.

Researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Yuyun Wahyuningrum, said there is "interest" within ASEAN in learning about cross-cultural religious literacy and how it implements in the Indonesian context. She said that the literacy is "not only practical but also doable", meaning it can be applied in various societal contexts.

“The cross-cultural religious literacy is one methodology that is considered replicable in the context of Southeast Asian countries,” Yuyun said.

Yuyun said ASEAN itself has incorporated the literacy's approach into the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 blueprint under the ASEAN Political-Security Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community pillars. They, she said, are deemed as part of efforts to achieve social cohesion, peace, and sustainable development.

The Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy Immersion Program featured presentations from a number of government officials and religious figures, including former Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare and former Foreign Affairs Minister Alwi Shihab. In addition, the delegates also held an audience at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and visited Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta.

They also observed a literacy workshop in Jakarta from Friday, August 21, 2026 through Sunday, August 23, 2026, attended by more than 40 teachers from several provinces across Indonesia. During the workshop, the delegates observed how the literacy is incorporated into school-based learning.

Leimena Foundation, according to its website, is a non-profit institution founded in 2005 by the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), a fellowship organization of the country's Protestant Christian churches. Its mission is "developing Indonesian... and world civilization that upholds human dignity, through cooperation in a pluralistic society".