'Nobody is immortal except Wiranto...'

Yesterday KITLV in Leiden had an interesting, although overloaden seminar with three speakers: each given 15 minutes only. Instead of the usual 20 people on Thurday afternoon, there were more than fifty now, including the Indonesian ambassador, Pak Puja. Theme was Indonesia's Political Economy update..

Philips Vermonte in the rather dark, narrow conference room of KITLV in Leiden
First was Philips Vermonte, from the USA but working at CSIS in Jakarta (no longer ruled by Ali Murtopo and friends, now a liberal research centre). He put comments on the fair elections and the weak, often quite undemocratic political parties as the weakest element in Indonesia democracy. Notwithstanding the success of Jokowi, there are quite many 'oligarchs' in Indonesian politics. 'Nearly the same bosses as before Reformasi. In 1998 it were, next to Suharto, Prabowo, Wiranto, Akbar Tanjung, Amien Rais and they still are leading parties, that lack internal democratic procedures.' So he had the joke, that 'Nobody is immortal except Wiranto'. His title was 'Consolidating a fledgling democracy'. He doubted whether proposals like a possible third term for a president and a return to indirect presidential elections would give new inspiration to democracy. This would lead instead to what he called a 'minimal democracy'. He also was sometimes optimistic: in 2017 there were 171 local elections. Only in Jakarta there was the tumult about Ahok, but most other elections went smoothly, also in places where Muslim parties supported non-Muslim candidates, like one Nurdin Abdullah in South Sulawesi. Besides an increase in religious concern (but decline of openly Muslim  parties!) he noticed a favour for technocrats as well.

Two other speakers were Arief Yusuf (Bandung, Padjadjaran Univ., here in the centre) and Rizal Shidiq, right, now in Lweiden University), who had many statistic material on the increase of religious intolerance. In 2007 and 2014 some 30.000 people were interviewed with similar questions like whether they would tolerate non-Muslim neighbours, a non-Muslim governor, partner for their children. Apparently people qualifying themselves as deeper/more religious were also more intolerant. Where there were greater differences in income, there was also greater intolerance. Primary or secondary education had not much influence on intolerance, only people with tertiary education were more tolerant. Is Islam special intolerant?
There was not much about history. I see myself two developments: since the 1970s the great expansion of primary education went hand in hand with an increase in religious classes obligatory for all pupils. These classes were and are given by very strict teachers, who follow overt Muslim doctrines. They must have given a great stimulus to the decline of abangan spirituality. After 2000 there is a quick spread of religious interference in what was before rather 'secular'. It started with the marriage law of 1974, followed by a steady process of a ban on interreligious marriage, but then after 2000 with more and more rules about halal food, about Islamic banking, dress codes, halal tourism. Moderation of religion could be good too if it only would mean that the impact of specific religious rules for many secular fields could be reduced.