Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) yesterday appointed three commission members to revise its rejected report on the 1984 massacre in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

The decision was made during a plenary meeting of the Komnas HAM after the Attorney General's Office returned the report to the commission on Tuesday, bowing to strong opposition from the massacre victims and human rights activists to the findings. Koesparmono Irsan was named as head of the three-member team to "complete" the report. Two other members are Syamsuddin and Syafruddin Bahar.

Komnas HAM Secretary General Asmara Nababan, who read out a press statement after the meeting, said the establishment of the new team was to fulfill Attorney General Marzuki's demand for the commission to complete the investigation into the Tanjung Priok killing. The team is tasked with digging up mass graves where killed Muslim protesters were buried, and gathering additional data and information from witnesses, Nababan said.

More than 100 people were killed when troops clashed with Muslim demonstrators and fired shots at them during an anti-government protest on September 12, 1984. But, the Komnas HAM's report denied the incident was a massacre and put the death toll at only 33 people. The investigators also found that former national military commander retired General Benny Moerdani and former vice president retired General Try Sutrisno, who was Jakarta's regional military chief at the time of the incident, were not guilty in the tragedy.

The controversial report triggered violent protests against the Komnas HAM by fundamentalist Muslims who recently smashed the windows of the commission's headquarters in the elite Menteng areas, Jakarta. The commission was blasted by relatives of the killed victims and other Muslim human rights activists for refusing to exhume mass graves before closing the fact-finding investigation, and for instead holding private talks with the military.

In a response to yesterday's decision, Muslim student activists said they could not accept the appointment of the new team because it did not include experts from outside the commission. Beny Biki, a family member of the killed victim, refuted the Komnas HAM chairman's statement that most people in Tanjung Priok have agreed to settle the case amicably through reconciliation.