O Great Mandailing
A land where I was born
Hemmed in by mountains
Rising high into the sky
Spewing fumes without pause

—Willem lskander, Mandailing

NOT a very beautiful poem, to be sure, but the words conveying the beauty of Mandailing in North Sumatra are firmly affixed in the mind of Amru Helmy Daulay. Even before he was appointed Regent of Mandailing Natal, Amru had resolved to preserve the beauty of the land. “If you loo