REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Minister of Education and Culture, M Nuh, urged all provinces in Indonesia to enlist their cultural heritage as a protection measure following the issue that Malaysia would claim two Indonesian cultural heritages. The cultural heritage could be in the form of dance, music, and others.
"We will not only enlist our cultural heritage, but also its history and character," the Head of Information Center and Public Relation of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Ibnu Hamad, said. After the culture is being registered in each province, it will be nationally registered in the ministry.
About the claim, Hamad emphasizes on two matters. "The first is if Malaysia register Tor-tor and Gondang Sembilan as their cultural heritage, what is the history? Every culture has its history and tradition," he said. The second is that he urges Indonesian people to record their history with solid database.
The Ministry also promises to investigate the Malaysia's cultural register on Tor-tor and Gondang Sembilan. "Where does Malaysia register the culture? For example, UNESCO, which is an influential organization," the Vice Minister of Education and Culture, Wiendu Nuryanti, said.
The Ministry possesses the complete data on cultural heritage that proposed to be acknowledged by UNESCO, dated on June 29, 2012. Malaysia is not among them yet.
In the the end of June, UNESCO will convene to discuss 27 cultures from 24 countries. Indonesia has proposed seven cultures with four of them are Balinese dances.
The Ministry allows Malaysia to develop Tor-tor and Gondang Sembilan, which belong to Batak Mandailing, North Sumatera. But the Ministry emphasizes that Malaysia cannot claim it.
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