It is time we take a real hard look at how we are desecrating the countryside and natural resources to feed the road-building and construction industry. Defaced limestone hills as a result of quarrying is a non-sustaining activity and has resulted in the loss of natural heritage. The landscape of Perak is an eyesore and as far as Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is concerned, it is time to bring quarrying to a halt.

I would like the Perak mentri besar to reconsider the call to quarry the defaced hills until they are flattened. Some of the quarried hills could instead be rehabilitated, particularly those that have been mined, while those which are beyond rehabilitation be left as they are.

Since the 1960s, the policy objective has been to ensure a steady and adequate supply of materials for more houses, offices and roads. These defaced hills should serve as a constant reminder of our past destructive quarrying activities.

The government should have been aware that the tons of rock, sand and gravel dug up will eventually lead to unacceptable environmental damage. Today, the eyesore quarries are testimonies of our appetite for aggregates. The sheer strength of quarrying has now forced the government to review its stand on the disastrous consequences of such an activity.

The benefits of limestones are many and not fully understood. Yet indiscriminate quarrying and clearing activities continue unabated. Limestone takes a long time to form, but once gone, it is irreplaceable and an entire ecosystem is destroyed.

Limestone forest areas are home to the region's plant species as well as the many orchid species. The caves are also important roosting places for bats, some reptiles, amphibians and insects. Apart from quarrying activities, limestone hills are also vulnerable to threats such as burning and land clearing for agricultural practices, gold mining, building of temples and flooding by hydroelectric dam constructions.

In view of the fragile ecosystem of the limestone hills, I call on the Perak state government not to issue permits for quarrying and to completely ban all quarrying activities.

In an effort to save what little is left of the limestone hills, the challenge now is to rehabilitate those defaced hills by roping in environmentalists to assist in the rehabilitation process.

The writer is president, Sahabat Alam Malaysia.