Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik, SE stated that Indonesia has submitted nomination proposals for Bali traditional dance, noken (handicraft from Papua), and Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) to be intangible world heritage by UNESCO.
We want the world to acknowledge our three cultural products. This will mean so much for us. By doing this, we hope that there will be no such case as other country admitting our culture to be theirs. Further, if the world know that our culture is acknowledged by UNESCO, we will be prouder to our culture, Jero Wacik, after signing the proposals for the three cultural products nominated, at Sapta Pesona Building, Jakarta, Monday (3/28).
Minister said that many of our numerous cultures deserve UNESCO admittance as world heritage. However, UNESCO sets strict regulations for nominations, particularly in terms of number. So, we need to propose them one by one. We do care about Indonesian cultural products, but we cannot propose them all at once. We have to do it gradually. In addition, Minister stated that nominating takes complete and accurate data to support the argument that our cultural products are indeed our original creation.
Bali traditional dance, one of the three nominations, is proposed to be Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. There are 9 Bali dances proposed, namely Rejang, Sanghyang Pedar, Baris Upacara, Topeng Sidhayana, Gambuh Darma, Wayang Wong, Legong Keraton, Joget Bumbung, and Bagong Ket Kuntisraya, each represents 9 districts in Bali.
Noken is nominated as Urgent Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage because it is perceived as a peculiar yet relinquieshed icon of Papua. Noken is a crochet work of damiho bark which represents the culture Papua people because all ethnicities in Papua know it and wear it. The third nomination, TMII, is proposed as the Best Practices of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Currently, Indonesia received the inscriptions from UNESCO for wayang (2003), kris (2005), batik (2009), and angklung (2010). (Information Center and Public Relations)
source : Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Indonesia
