Strong leadership needed to ensure Samosir's future

The Jakarta Post, Pangururan, North Sumatra

A widely-accepted leader who can resolve social, economic and environmental problems as well as make rapid changes in the future are the main things needed in any future leader of Samosir regency, according to local religious and informal leaders.

They criticized the weak leadership of acting regent Wilmar E. Simandjorang, saying he did little except talk.

The regency is scheduled to hold a regental election on June 27, 2005, to elect a new regent and so far, four candidates -- businessmen and scholars who were born on the island but have been living in Jakarta or Medan -- have emerged to contest the election.

Ompu Tambatua Sidabutar, an informal leader in Tomok, a much- visited tourist resort in the regency, said Wilmar had brought about no significant changes during the 15 months of his tenure as he lacked strong leadership skills.

"He has talked too much to the local and foreign media but he has made no changes on the ground. What changes have we had? Nothing. What the people need is a strong leader who has a good rapport with local traditional and religious figures, and local and foreign investors so as to develop the new regency," he told The Jakarta Post recently.

He pointed out that many locals had been confused by the new regency's formation as no changes had been made and the poor circumstances of most people in the regency persisted.

"The present situation is not much different from that of five years ago. So, why do we need a new regency," he said.

T. Simanihuruk, another informal leader in Simanindo, said the new regency needed a strong leader who was capable of persuading all traditional and religious communities for their active participation in resolving the regency's problems.

"Samosir has no natural resources ... it has great potential to accelerate its economic development in the agricultural and tourism sectors," he said.

For instance, he suggested that the government promote the use of wind power to pump water from Lake Toba to reservoirs in the Samosir Highlands. This water could then be used to irrigate thousands of hectares of farmland.

Brother Michael Sinaga, a Roman Catholic figure, said the next leader needed to propose an integrated development program based on sustainable development.

"A development program is a must to empower the people, eradicate poverty and improve the quality of our human capital, but it must be combined with an environmental preservation program because the regency has to sell its natural beauty to domestic and foreign tourists," he said.

He said that strong leadership was needed to persuade traditional and informal leaders to voluntarily hand over a portion of their land to the local administration and to foreign investors to develop physical infrastructure and the tourism industry.

"Many foreign investors are interested in establishing international standard hotels and bungalows in tourist resorts in the regency, but they have found it difficult to invest here because of soaring land prices and the poor condition of the basic infrastructure, such as public transportation and the road network," he said.

M.S. Simbolon, a church minister in Pangururan, concurred and said the next leader should also understand the need to preserve the environment, and the area's cultural heritage and values.

"Aquaculture on Lake Toba must be stopped as it has damaged the lake's ecosystem and caused problems for the tourism industry. All deforested areas in the highlands need to be replanted to maintain the water supply to the lake," he said.

He added that development in the regency should be governed by the Lake Toba Ecosystem Management Plan (LTEMP), which Samosir and seven regencies in the Toba Highlands adopted recently.