"The two indigenous individuals were named suspects, but we did not detain them," Eastern Seram Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Adolof Bormasa said, adding that they had allegedly damaged heavy equipment belonging to a logging company operating in the forest.

The two suspects were among 26 people detained last week after a protest of the company’s activities allegedly turned into a riot. The protesters reportedly chained down heavy machinery used to extract timber from Mount Ahwale forest in Sabuai.

All the detainees were released after interrogation.

The protesters have said that even though they were ostensibly being questioned as witnesses only, they regarded the detention as an attempt to “criminalize” them.

Hatuari, one of the residents detained by the Werinama Police, said that they were not treated like witnesses.

“We ask the government or the Komnas HAM [National Commission on Human Rights] to check up on us,” Hatuari said recently.

Eastern Seram Police spokesperson Brig. Suwardi Sobo has maintained that the arrests of the 26 Sabuai villagers were to examine them as witnesses.

The Maluku Regional Legislative Council has called for a temporary halt to logging in the forest until council members and the Maluku Forestry Agency inspect the site.

"This week, council speakers and members will visit the site. We have asked the Maluku Forestry Agency to halt any logging activities there," the council's deputy speaker, Richard Rahakbauw, said.

The decision came after a meeting on Saturday evening that included council members, the forestry agency, activists and representatives of the company.

Dozens of Sabuai people demonstrated on Feb. 17 in an effort to stop the company from continuing to cut down the forest.

Sabuai indigenous community chair Nicko Ahwalam said locals had repeatedly tried to stop the company’s activities and had issued a customary sanction against it.

“The company ignored it,” he said.

Sabuai residents said the logging was illegal. However, Maluku Forestry Agency head Sadli Lie said the company had obtained a logging license from the administration and also held a license to cultivate the cleared forest area.

“They have followed regulations,” said Sadli, who claimed the area was not a customary forest but an “area for other uses [APL]”.

“I have told the police and prosecutors in East Seram that the area is an APL,” Sadli said.

Nicko said the Mount Ahwale forest was home to lumber of high economic value. The area is also rich in historical sites and the heritage of residents' ancestors, such as Negeri Lama.

“This forest and mountain are part of our village. How can we give them up to be exploited?” Nicko said.

He added that the logging had caused damage to the environment and that it had made the land barren.

“Just wait until the rainy season. It will for sure cause landslides and flooding. We live at the foot of the mountain. Landslides can hit our village,” he said.

Despite the forestry agency’s insistence that the logging is legal, residents and university students, organized under the Sabuai Students Alliance, maintain that the activities are illegal, which is why they have filed a report with the police.

Sabuai customary government chief Friderik Nisdoam said in June of last year that locals had not been invited to discuss the environmental impact of the company’s activities and had not been notified about them.

The company's director, Imanuel Quidarusman, has denied the accusations. He added at the meeting with the Maluku Regional Legislative Councillor on Saturday that his company had a timber exploitation permit but no forest concession.

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