Villagers settle religious differences as leaders dither
The Sydney Morning Herald, By Michael Bachelard Indonesia Correspondent

About 160 Indonesian villagers made refugees last year by a mob of their own neighbors may finally be allowed back to their homes after the two opposing groups realized that not so much separated them after all……………

In August 2012, a Shiite man was killed and 48 homes in East Java burnt down by a Sunni mob. Shiite leader Tajul Muluk was later jailed for four years for blasphemy – the same sentence given to the murderer.
The Shiite victims were forced into refugee accommodation where they stayed for more than a year while the local government and its Sunni advisers initially refused to protect them.

On Monday night, though, grassroots representatives of the opposing groups announced they were ‘‘ready to make peace and live side by side”. Their negotiators had met at the housing block where the refugees lived, skirting an ineffective, government-sponsored reconciliation process.

The Sunni villagers apologised for the violence and dropped a demand that the Shiites return to Sunnism. The Shiites promised not to try to make new converts, nor to sue for damages.

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