Too much religion in Indonesia?

Some 25 years ago Romo Mangunwijaya already stated that for Pancasila he found the democratic and social pillars more important than the  religious one on the almighty one Lordship. And he judged that there was 'too much religion in Indonesia'. In the latest issue of Basis  (no 9-10, 2019, p. 3) there is an angry statement in the usual introductory essay 'signs of our time' (tanda tanda zaman). The Jesuit Benedictus Hari Juliawan regrets 'that the obsession with religion recently has shown the tendency to reduce the forming of a character to the memorization sacred scripture. Often the starting point is that religion brings us the infallible law of God. Therefore anything written in the holy book cannot be questioned by anybody, including science.' (Major theme of the issue is on the value of science).

This same week I received from Elga Sarapung the PDF copy of the 'testament' of the leaving minister of religion Lukman Hakim Saifuddin. It is a book with the title Moderasi Keagamaan. There is something wrong with religion in the country where I am still staying (this week for three seminars in Yogyakarta!) Religion must be moderate! Not dominant, not extreme! The book does not say that we should moderate religion, like we must moderate food, or work. But still, there seems to be too much religion. A virtue is the good thing in the middle of two bad qualities: not only in the philosophy of Aristotle, also in Muslim and Christian reworking of his ethics. So, between ultra-conservative and extreme liberal, the moderate is the right middle way. In fact, however, Saifuddin is afraid of violence, verbal and physical. And he is afraid of intolerance, of exclusivism, of people who want to live in a strict homogeneous society, with all people thinking in the same way. This is all put in the idea of Moderasi. It takes some time to understand all dimensions of this word that has become quite popular also as wasatiya, the 'middle way',  as earlier this year pleaded by the NU in Nijmegen (se the blog of 21 june 2019).

In a book of some 160 pages many aspects are described, but I missed a clear and open reference to what has been described in the book of 2009 (Ilusi Negara Islam) as the 'infiltration of Salafi Islam from Arab countries'. What Madinier and Van Bruinessen describe as the 'end of innocence' and 'the conservative turn' is here indicated more vaguely. It is written by someone from the bureaucracy.
An Indonesian Minister of Religion cannot only speak about Islam (although most of the book is about Islam), he also must not be too clear about his enemies. The nicest sections are with the concrete stories. Like the man who bought a house in a village in Bantul, but was rejected first as a newcomer because he was Christian and by written decision of the village chief the village should be 100% Muslim. One reason for ths was that some 30 elders in the village did not like to see a dead non-Muslim among deceased Muslims on the common and public graveyard. The bupati of Bantul interfered and the new family is now living happily in the village. (71-3)
The book is a celebration of pluriformity: God has created everything in pairs (55). It gives concrete stories of what happens in the country and what kind of measures are taken by the ministry to promoty religious harmony. I wonder whether the small groups of hardliners will be convinced by this nice work, but promotors will be strengthened in their conviction and receive support.
There is also a book by Quraysh Shihab on this theme. I must buy that here as well.