"Don`t make Lake Toba be the world`s largest lavatory due to our negligence," Head of the legislative body`s social welfare commission, Sakkan Siahaan, said here Sunday.
Lake Toba was situated in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra and noted as the largest lake in Southeast Asia. But it was currently being infested with a big company`s floating fish cages ("Keramba").
Moreover, the lake`s western coastal areas had no longer had thick forests as could be seen in Ginjang of Tele sub-distric, Samosir district, and Humbang Hasundutan district.
This condition was getting worse as a result of ongoing exploitation of the Toba Lake forests by a certain pulp and paper company by changing the areas` trees into eucalyptus, he said.
"Preserving Lake Toba is an unnegotiable condition," Siahaan said adding that chemical residues of the fish food and keramba had also threatened the lake`s ecosystem, he said.
The main concern was not only the capability of the government officials to promote the preservation of Lake Toba and the regulation and the sanction to people but also the appropriate implementation of the regulation, Sakkan said.
Therefore, he asked those in North Sumatra province not to get benefit from the lake through inappropriate ways by ignoring the need of well preserving the beauty of this glorious lake`s environment. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
