MIRI: The Malaysia Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry is calling all relevant federal and state authorities to collaborate to make Sarawak’s pride, the Niah National Park, a World Heritage Site.
Its minister, Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi, made the call at this year’s International Conference on Archaeology on Thursday.
His text of speech was read out by the ministry’s deputy secretary general (culture), Saraya Arbi.
Mohamaddin said he was looking forward to hearing of interesting findings from presenters from South East Asia, Australia and Japan in the conference especially on Niah National Park.
He pointed out that between 2011 and 2015, three sites have been designated as national heritage sites, namely, Sungai Batu archaeological site, Gua Gunung Runtuh Lenggong and Bukit Jawa archaeological site both in Lenggong, Perak.
“We are positive that international recognition will help boost the country’s position as one of the must-visit destinations, create jobs and generate income for the local communities through tourism,” he said.
Prior to 2015, the National Heritage Department had gazetted a number of heritage sites which include archaeological sites, monuments and historic buildings in the country.
“Out of these, eight archaeological sites such as Bukit Bunuh in Perak, Tambun Megalithic Cave, Pengkalan Kempas Negeri Sembilan and Kota Johor Lama in Johor were gazetted under the National Heritage Act 2005,” he said.
