M'sian Information Communication And Culture Minister To Open Heritage Malaysia Exhibition In Paris

By Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 (Bernama) -– The uniqueness of Malaysia’s heritage, including Perak’s Lenggong Valley artifacts, will be displayed at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) headquarters in Paris, beginning Tuesday. The five-day exhibition organised by the Department of National Heritage will be officiated by Malaysian Information Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim. In a statement on Monday, the ministry said the exhibition portrayed the time-depth of Malaysian heritage which went as far back as 1.8 million years, in the Lenggong Valley (Lenggong is a town in Perak, Malaysia). The valley was occupied for a very long period, making it one of the longest culture sequences in the world. The exhibition also includes recent archaeological evidence indicating that the beginning of civilization in Southeast Asia is found in the Bujang Valley (situated at north Malaysia - the richest archeological area), as early as 3,000 years ago, predating the evidence in neighbouring countries. Among other highlights of the exhibition are the living treasures of Malaysia's intangible heritage, the people themselves -– the performers of shadow puppets, wood carvers of the Mah Meri community (a group of 'Orang Asli' living in Malaysia) and seamstress of the old art of velvet gold embroidery. Recently, Malaysia was selected by Unesco to sit in the World Heritage Committee (WHC) and appointed as its deputy chairman. Several venues in Malaysia have been listed by Unesco as World Heritage Sites, including Melaka, George Town, Historic Cities of the Strait of Malacca, Kinabalu Park (Sabah - east Malaysia) and the Gunung Mulu National Park (Sarawak, east Malaysia). The Mak Yong Theatre, an ancient theatre form of Kelantan which combines acting, vocal and instrumental music, costumes and gestures devoted, is on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2008. -- BERNAMA