Veteran environmentalist, Prof. Maketab Mohamed said the moratorium was a good start.
He said the Special Committee to handle the bauxite issue should include stakeholders including politicians from both sides of the divide as well as experts and scientists from relevant fields such as marine ecology, hydrology, fisheries, mining engineering, geology and environmental science among others.
On the topic of Approved Permits (AP) which will now only be issued to companies, Maketab said the companies should be required to list the expertise they had, including mining engineers, environmental engineers, as well as transport and safety experts.
“To stop the industry is not practical as it generates income.
“Any kind of industrial or human activity will have various impacts from social to environmental but we cannot sweep these issues under the carpet,” he said, adding it was crucial to tackle the problems head on with solutions to minimise the impact.
Andrew Sebastian, CEO of Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia (EcoMy) said the three-month moratorium should have been set for a longer period to ensure mitigation and rehabilitation initiatives were more effective and thorough.
He said the government must now look into their regulations and response processes, review their standard operating procedures and investigate how this prolonged issue could have been avoided and dealt with months ago.
Sebastain added that independent technical specialists and relevant bodies must be included in this process.
“If the bauxite industry fails to adhere to rulings and best practices it should be stopped indefinitely,” he said, adding political will was the most important factor to ensure the proper regulation of the industry.
Meanwhile chairman for the Centre For Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (Cetdem) Gurmit Singh, said enforcement was key to ensuring the success of the moratorium as there were also illegal miners.
He also said the government should come up with a detailed plan to better manage relevant agencies and introduce a monitoring mechanism to ensure effective enforcement.
“The bauxite industry in the country should be benchmarked against Australian standards, as the latter has a much larger and more mature bauxite industry, and companies wishing to enter the industry must be made to adhere to such standards.”
Gurmit said that the government should allow environmental groups or independent third parties to scrutinise its plans for the industry and publish them so that the public knew what could be achieved.
Yesterday, Putrajaya put in place a three-month moratorium on bauxite mining in Pahang effective January 15, which could be extended if the industry failed to contain pollution from the mining activity.