Its minister, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, said the ministry would deploy officers from the Department of Environment, Department of Mineral and Geoscience, Department of Land and Mines, as well as with the help from the Civil Defence Force and Royal Malaysia Police, to further strengthen the enforcement.
He said all these agencies would be placed under one umbrella, as part of the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) initiative, to ensure that all mining and export activities were carried out in accordance with the existing laws and regulations.
“It is high time to further strengthen the joint enforcement and galvanise more manpower to overcome any problem in enforcing the moratorium,” he said in a statement here today, adding that the ministry would also work closely with the Pahang government to enforce the moratorium.
Wan Junaidi also said the ministry fully supported the action taken by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the arrests of 10 civil servants yesterday on suspicion of receiving bribes to protect illegal bauxite mining activities around Kuantan.
The arrests did not involve personnel of the agencies under the ministry, Wan Junaidi added.