A Test for Foreign Teachers in Indonesia: Are You Gay?

Under a government regulation, teachers at some international schools face intrusive questions aimed at identifying those with “abnormal” sexual orientations.

By Richard C. Paddock and Muktita Suhartono
Dec. 23, 2019
Updated 12:54 a.m. ET

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Agree or disagree, the exam asked: “I would feel uncomfortable knowing my daughter’s or son’s teacher was homosexual.”

Or this, true or false: “The gender composition of an orgy would be irrelevant to my decision to participate.”

In recent weeks, foreign teachers at some private schools in Indonesia have been required to answer these questions and many more like them in what has been billed as a psychological exam.

The goal is to determine teachers’ sexual orientation and attitude toward gay rights under a 2015 government regulation that prohibits international schools from hiring foreign teachers who have “an indication of abnormal sexual behavior or orientation.”

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The test comes as lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people face growing hostility across Indonesia, which was once seen as among the most tolerant countries in the Islamic world. Officially secular, Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population.

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