What it means to be listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site

THERE is much excitement over the listing of George Town and Malacca as Unesco World Heritage Sites. Going by reports, there will be a three-day celebration by Penangites, while Malacca will celebrate the event next month and perhaps on a grander scale.

While Malaysians have every reason to rejoice, a reader wants to know what the significance is as these two sites are based in our country and have been ours all this while.

In order to appreciate the subject of World Heritage Sites, it is necessary to refer to the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The seeds for this were perhaps laid towards the end of World War I which saw the emergence of an international movement to protect heritage.

People saw the damage and destruction caused by the war. But the idea to protect heritage did not attract sufficient attention until some 40 years later.

Malacca’s famed Jonker Street with its Dutch era buildings are amongst the locations within the state’s Heritage Zone.

The pursuit of heritage protection was triggered following the decision to build the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, which would have flooded the valley containing the Abu Simbel temples, a treasure of ancient Egyptian civilisation.

In 1959, after an appeal from the governments of Egypt and Sudan, Unesco launched an international safeguarding campaign. Archaeological research in the areas to be flooded was accelerated. The Abu Simbel and Philae temples were dismantled, moved to dry ground and reassembled.

The campaign cost about US$80mil, half of which was donated by some 50 countries, showing the importance of solidarity and shared responsibility in conserving outstanding cultural sites. Its success led to other campaigns to save Venice and its Lagoon (Italy), the archaeological ruins at Moenjodaro in Pakistan, and the restoration of the Borobodur temple compounds in Indonesia.

This in turn led to Unesco initiating, with the help of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the preparation of a draft convention for the protection of cultural heritage.