Bujang Valley Should Be Recognised As Unesco World Heritage Site

ALOR SETAR (Kedah, Malaysia) Nov 28 (BERNAMA) -- A special committee will be set up to initiate efforts to gain recognition for the Bujang Valley situated near Merbok, as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World Heritage Site. Socio-cultural Adviser to the Government Dr Rais Yatim said the committee would convene a meeting with the Kedah Heritage and Culture Commissioner and the state government before tabling its proposal on the matter to the Cabinet. "We cannot do this alone. We will present our grounds, the consequences, as well as the justification and the cost involved because if we have a plan but not the budget, then it won't work. "This is for our future. We have to get the Bujang Valley to be listed as world heritage site," he said at the hand-over ceremony of the completed Tunku Abdul Rahman Memorial Gallery upgrading project here Monday. Rais said it would be a big loss for the country if the Valley was left unrecognised as even the Sungai Batu archaeological site had been recognised as the earliest and oldest site of human civilisation in Southeast Asia, last May. "The federal government should consider promoting the Bujang Valley so that it will be recognised as a World Heritage Site because the site is older than Melaka, older than the Borobudur in Indonesia and older than the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which was built in the 9th century," he said. As such, Rais also expressed hope that the Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul would look into this matter seriously and expedite the process so that the many archaeological heritage at the site could be recorded. "This should be our mission for next year," he said. -- BERNAMA