Toba-Samosir on long road to industrialization

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Balige, North Sumatra

Toba-Samosir, an economically less developed new regency in North Sumatra whose population mostly lives in poverty, has no other alternative than to develop agriculture and tourism to catch up with natural resources-rich regencies and help improve the well- being of locals.

The secretary to the local administration, P. Simbolon, said in an interview with The Jakarta Post here over the weekend that Toba-Samosir, which was carved out as a new regency from North Tapanuli regency in 2000, had great potential to develop its agricultural and tourism sectors under regional autonomy.

"Most people earn their living from traditional agriculture and cottage industries, while the tourism sector has been neglected because of a lack of government attention in the past.

"Now, it's time for the regency to wake up in the autonomy era. The local administration is launching a development program to diversify agricultural products for export purposes, develop agribusiness and speed up tourism development so as to increase economic growth," he said.

The 3,200-square-kilometer regency, which has been part of modern civilization since the 17th Century saw the arrival of European Christian missionaries, comprises barren and infertile mountains, a large lake with Samosir Island in the middle, and around 4,000 hectares of farmland. Some 350,000 people, mostly living in rural areas, earn their living from traditional agriculture. Many high school graduates go on to university in the provincial capital of Medan or in other provinces because of the absence of institutes of higher education in the regency.

Simbolon explained that a national businessman was developing a tea plantation in a mountainous area in the regency, and several investors had given commitments to putting their money into export-orientated agribusinesses.

"The development of business networks with prospective investors in Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and the United States through bilateral talks with the developed countries will also accelerate the growth of the tourism sector in the future," he said.

The local administration through the central government has lobbied donor countries to reopen the airport in Sibisa, near Parapat, and develop it so that it can accommodate wide-bodied aircraft, thus allowing foreign and domestic tourists to fly in directly to the Lake Toba tourist destination, he said.

"Toba-Samosir was long been known as a tourist destination around the world, but former president Soeharto's New Order regime developed Bali instead, and closed down Sibisa Airport, which had been built by founding president Sukarno.

"The planned development of the agroindustry and tourism sectors will certainly provide job opportunities for locals and revive the real sector, including the restaurant, hotel and handicraft industries," he said.

Many villages in the regency are devoid of young people as they have all migrated to Medan, Jakarta, Surabaya and other urban areas due to a lack of jobs at home.

"The development of the modern industrial sector will encourage more investors to put their money in the regency, provide job opportunities for locals and encourage those who have migrated to other regions to come back home. The main target is to double annual per capita income from the current Rp 1.6 million to around Rp 3 million over the next decade," he said.

Aden Manurung, a legislator with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said the local administration should be firm about its decision on the planned reopening of PT Toba Pulp Lestari pulp mill, and review the master agreement on the giant PT Inalum hydro plant, which draws its water from Lake Toba, so as to ensure they make a maximum contribution to the local development program.

"The local security authorities must uphold the government's decision on the planned reopening of the pulp mill, which will contribute some Rp 55 billion annually to the local administration and provide a total of 14,000 jobs for locals.

"The local administration has been pressing PT Inalum to comply with the master agreement between Japan and Indonesia on the supply of some two megawatts of its annual power output to the regency, and the granting of a seat for the regency on the company's board," he said, adding that Inalum had been violating the agreement for 17 years and that so far the Asahan Authority Board, representing the government, had done nothing to ensure the agreement was complied with.

Aden and Simbolon agreed that the regency administration in cooperation with locals must be proactive in preserving the local (Batak) culture and the environment so as to attract more foreign tourists to the regency.

"We are learning from West Sumatra and Bali on how they have promoted their culture and preserved their beautiful environments in order to attract domestic and foreign tourists," said Aden.

He conceded that not many foreign and domestic tourists were interested in visiting Toba and Samosir Island because of the environmental degradation around Lake Toba, the lack of hospitality on the part of locals, and transportation problems.

"We should first love our culture and show our hospitality to others, as hospitality and politeness are two of the main values in Batak culture," he said.