Four Dairi subdistricts want new regency

JAKARTA: Four subdistricts of Dairi regency in East Sumatra want to establish a new regency as their way of spurring the development process in the area, a noted public figure from the Pakpak community said here on Thursday.

Jansen Sinamo, the chairman of Bapepadi (Dairi Development Monitoring Society), said that a number of representatives from the four subdistricts met with all factions of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

"They (House members) all support our plan to establish the new regency. They've also promised to help us in realizing the plan," he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He claimed that the idea of establishing the new regency came from the general public, who were not satisfied with the current level of development in the area. If realized, the two regencies (Dairi and the new regency) would become part of the proposed province of East Sumatra.

Dairi Regent M.P. Tumangger said that he did not object to the new regency plan. "That's the will of the people in the four subdistricts. We cannot deny it. Instead we ought to support it," he said.

The new regency would be called Pakpak Barat Regency and would include the subdistricts of Kerajaan, Salak, Sitelu Tali Urang Jehe and Silimapungga-pungga.

J. Padang, one of those who initiated the campaign for the new regency, said that in the Pakpak language, Barat means "model". With such a name, he expressed the hope that the new regency would always be a model for others to follow.

Padang also claimed that the plan had come from the grassroots in the four subdistricts. "It's not a top-down approach from a group of elite people in the area," he said, adding that with the new regency they would be able to accelerate development there and empower the Pakpak community, which until now had been sidelined in Dairi regency's development program. --JP