International environmental group Greenpeace hailed on Thursday Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan for his actions against Southeast Asia's biggest pulp producer PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper.
"The minister has taken the right measures," Greenpeace's Southeast Asia campaigner Bustar Maitar told Antara news agency in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru.
Zulkifli said after a hearing at the House of Representatives on Wednesday night that he had asked RAPP to suspend all activities in peatland forest. The minister also promised to evaluate operational permits granted to RAPP and conduct a post-audit on the company.
RAPP has secured approval from both Riau Governor Rusli Zainal and then forestry minister Malam Sambat Kaban, but Zulkifli said he would find out if irregularities occurred in the process.
Greenpeace activists rallied at RAPP operational area in Pelalawan on Tuesday to force the company to stop exploitation of peatland forest.
Local police dissolved the rally, arresting 22 Greenpeace activists for illegal trespassing.
The immigration authorities later deported 13 other activists from foreign countries due to visa violations.
Meanwhile, Associated Press reported that Indonesia has deported two more foreign journalists covering a Greenpeace demonstration against forest destruction on the western island of Sumatra - bringing to 15 the number of people kicked out of the country over the protest.
Kumkum Dasgupta, an editor for the Hindustan Times, and Raimondo Bultrini, an Italian reporter from the L'Espresso weekly newspaper, were questioned for hours after visiting a Greenpeace camp near land owned by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper, one of Indonesia's largest paper companies.
The two journalists had received their visas from the central government, but had not sought permission from local officials to travel in the area, said Jumintar Lubis, the head of immigration in Riau province.
Greenpeace had sought to draw attention to destruction of forests ahead of a key UN climate conference in Denmark. Indonesia's once abundant jungle is being torn down at an alarming rate, threatening endangered tigers, elephants and orangutans.
Slash-and-burn land clearing is used to make way for oil palm plantations, mines and commercial development, making Indonesia the third-largest emitter of carbon in the world after the United States and China.
The journalists were among four foreigners deported Wednesday for allegedly violating visa terms, said Maroloan Barimbing, an immigration spokesman.
Thirteen foreign Greenpeace activists have been deported this week over the protest, including 11 over the weekend, the environmental group said.
Indonesian police also detained 44 Indonesian activists and charged 21 with allegedly trespassing on private property.
Restricting the media's movements is out of step with Indonesia's improved press freedom since late dictator Soeharto was swept from power more than a decade ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement.
"The expulsion of foreign journalists harks back to the country's authoritarian past, not its democratic present," the statement said.
Italy denounced the expulsion of Bultrini and an Italian Greenpeace activist at the Indonesian Embassy in Rome. The Foreign Ministry requested that their rights be guaranteed by Indonesian authorities.
