The Indonesian Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Leimena Institute Promote Inclusive Education through the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy
Secretary General of the Indonesian Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Suharti, together with the Special Staff of the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education for Learning and Excellent Schools, Arif Jamali Muis, Executive Director of the Leimena Institute, Matius Ho, and Senior Fellow of the Leimena Institute, Amin Abdullah, in the Pre-Event Press Conference for the implementation of the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy at the office of the Indonesian Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, October 30, 2025.
Jakarta, 7 November 2025 – The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education of the Republic of Indonesia, Abdul Mu’ti, will officially open the event and deliver the keynote address on Tuesday morning (November 11, 2025). The ICCCRL will be held in a hybrid format, featuring at least 50 national and international speakers and approximately 250 participants from both Indonesia and abroad.
CCRL as the Foundation for Pluralism and Tolerance
The Secretary-General of the Indonesian Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Suharti, stated that strengthening the understanding of cross-cultural religious literacy is the foundation for character building that upholds pluralism, tolerance, and respect for diversity.
“In the ASEAN region, we share a living space with more than 600 million people, most of them in Indonesia, from various backgrounds. The diversity of languages, religions, ethnicities, cultures, and local beliefs is not just a richness, but also a strength to build unity in difference,” Suharti said during the pre-event press conference for the ICCCRL on October 30, 2025.
Suharti noted that the implementation of the ICCCRL is an implementation and follow-up to the ASEAN Our Shared Future 2045 Declaration, established in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 26, 2025. This includes objective number nine of the declaration: to realize an inclusive and cohesive ASEAN community that respects political, social, religious, cultural, and ethnic diversity.
Suharti added that the ICCCRL also supports the realization of the Indonesian President’s Asta Cita (Eight Goals), including Asta Cita 1: strengthening the ideology of Pancasila, democracy, and human rights (HAM), partly through multicultural learning.
“The outcomes of this conference are expected to build an international collaboration network among governments, educational institutions, religious communities, and civil society organizations to advance multicultural and multi-religious education, as well as the exchange of best practices in supporting social cohesion, mutual trust, and harmony in Indonesia’s pluralistic society,” Suharti concluded.
Matius Ho stated that Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy (CCRL) is simply understood as an approach to knowing and collaborating with people from different religions and cultures.
The Executive Director of the Leimena Institute, Matius Ho, stated that in an increasingly globally connected world, cross-cultural religious literacy plays a vital role in strengthening the character of the younger generation to be inclusive and capable of collaborating with people who are different.
“Indonesia’s CCRL program, run by the Leimena Institute in collaboration with over 40 partner educational and religious institutions, has become an initiative widely recognized globally, especially in the Southeast Asian region,” said Matius.
Matius revealed that the CCRL Program aims to build mutual trust (social trust) in a pluralistic society. This is intended to reduce the prejudices that are the main obstacle to building cooperation, particularly in diverse communities.
The CCRL Program has so far been attended by more than 10,600 teachers from 38 provinces in Indonesia. The program is strategic and reaches the grassroots—namely, teachers as agents of change—and goes beyond the limitations of traditional interreligious dialogue, which often stops at the stage of merely getting to know each other. CCRL is also in line with the 2021 recommendation from the UNESCO International Commission for the Futures of Education, which stated the need for a “pedagogy that encourages cooperation and solidarity.”
“Normally, in the digital world, we need literacy so as not to get lost. Similarly, as a pluralistic society, we need cross-cultural religious literacy in order to have the competence to engage positively and constructively,” Matius concluded.
The Pre-Event Press Conference for the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious LIteracy was also attended by the Head of the Character Strengthening Center of Indonesian Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education of the Republic of Indonesia, Rusprita Putri Utami (second from left), the Asia Vice-Moderator of the World Council of Churches, Henriette T. Lebang (far right), and the Head of the Bureau of Cooperation and Public Relations (BKHM), Anang Ristanto.
For two days, the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy will feature six main panels in a hybrid format and nine breakout sessions. Invited guests include government officials from Ministries/institutions, both domestic and foreign, several ambassadors from other nations, academics, civil society leaders, and teachers who are CCRL alumni.
This is the third time the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy has been held. Previously, it was organized by the Leimena Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia in 2023 and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia in 2024. This year, it is collaborating with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education of the Republic of Indonesia and also receives support from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University Law School, and the Templeton Religion Trust.