Both Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi and Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali made the proposal on Tuesday, saying that East Java Governor Soekarwo would have to provide details of the plan.

“The relocation plan would be in the hands of the Governor and it of course would listen to the wishes of the local community,” Suryadharma told reporters on Tuesday.

Soekarwo was quick to reject the “ghettoization” plan, arguing it would not solve the problem.

“Relocation is not a solution because they [Shia followers] belong to the area. They are also members of the local community. It’s unfair to arbitrarily move the minority only because the majority rejects them,” he said.

Soekarwo said that for the time being the authorities were considering evacuating the Shia community to a safer location until security improved.

The Shia community is now living in fear following a brutal attack on Sunday that killed two people.

Some Shia followers are taking shelter at a local tennis stadium.

Children in the community have been particularly hit hard in the aftermath of the attack.

Of the 228 people taking shelter, 83 needed psychological counseling to help them recover from the trauma of the incident.

“We need volunteers with expertise in psychology to tend to the psychological wounds these people have suffered from this cruel assault by their neighbors,” Andy Irfan from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said. There were only three volunteers available.

“I want to go back to school,” 7-year-old Hosen wrote on a piece of tree-shaped cardboard, cut out during a writing session on Tuesday. The program was held to help the boy deal with the trauma.

Another boy, 10-year-old Samsudin, who was saved by local officers after hiding in a nearby river with his parents, wrote “I am afraid only of God”.

On Tuesday, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) issued a statement to condemn the government for failing to take steps to prevent the Sunday attack.

After the first attack on a Shia compound in Sampang in December 2011, Komnas HAM made a recommendation to the government on what it should do to prevent further clashes.

Local Shia followers had also filed reports to the police about suspicious activities.

Komnas HAM deputy chairman Ridha Saleh said that members of the Shia community had filed a complaint to the police about religious profiling by local residents between Aug. 23–25.

He said that whenever local residents traveled outside of the village, they had to answer questions on their religious affiliation.

The local authorities took no action, Ridha said.

On Tuesday, senior government officials also issued a statement that downplayed the severity of the situation in Sampang.

Suryadharma once again said that the clash between Shia and Sunni community in Sampang was the outgrowth of a family feud.

“It is not between the Sunni and the Shia, but a sibling rivalry between Shia leader Tajul Muluk and his brother Roisul Hukuma, who is Sunni follower. This personal conflict has developed into a communal one,” Suryadharma said on Tuesday.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi also downplayed the intra-religious element in the conflict, saying that the clash was a purely criminal act.

Ahmad Zainul Hamdi, a researcher from Surabaya Islamic State University, said a deep-seated mistrust toward members of the Shia community concerning their beliefs was at the root of the recent Shia-Sunni violence (png).

Wahyoe Boediwadhana and Indra Harsaputra contributed to reporting from Sampang, East Java.

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