Meet the Neighbors

When the teenage students of the Tebu Ireng Islamic school, or pesantren, in Jombang, East Java, are asked about Australia, the answers come easily, amid much giggling. "Beautiful!" one boy says. "Koalas and kangaroos," shouts another. But when talk turns to the Bali bombing two years ago, the boys argue among themselves. "It was wrong," says one. "I say the bombers did a good action," says another, "because they looked at the people in Bali wearing very open clothes." A classmate interrupts: "Their action was very harsh - and their choice of victims was false."

It's a...