Jakarta - Indonesia has a rich heritage, but many of the valuable gifts passed down from generation to generation are being lost in the face of modernity, facing the threat of extinction.
Indonesian batik, the wayang puppet theater, gamelan traditional orchestra, subak farming and jumping stone rituals are some past glories people still have the luxury of watching and learning about today.
But if nothing is done to safeguard these, Indonesia`s rich heritage -- oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, rituals, social practices, festivities, traditional craftmanship and knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe -- might vanish into thin air.
Such heritage, known as intangible cultural heritage and living heritage, might flourish and continue if the government and communities worked together to safeguard them, in line with the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
UNESCO`s program specialist for culture, Himalchuli Gurung, said the first challenge for the country is to socialize the convention. Unlike tangible heritage, which is found in the forms of historical monuments and buildings, she said, the intangible is found in human bodies and souls.
There is an urgent need to identify and define various elements of intangible cultural heritage present in the country, with the participation of communities, groups and relevant NGOs.
"Ratification will not fix the problem, but it`s the beginning, starting with commitments the country has to carry out," she told The Jakarta Post.
Under the convention, intangible cultural heritage is defined as "practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills -- as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces they are associated with -- that the communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage".
Program specialist of UNESCO`s Cultural Objects and Intangible Heritage Division, Frank Proschan, explained during a workshop in Jakarta the last phrase was important since only the community itself, not a scholar, expert or official, could decide whether or not something was part of its heritage.
Proschan was among the speakers at the workshop on strengthening national capacities for implementing the convention, jointly organized by the UNESCO office in Jakarta, the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO.
The workshop aimed to provide stakeholders with information regarding implementation of the convention. Particular attention was given to intangible cultural heritage resource mapping in the country with community participation, as well as understanding the timeline and procedure for the preparation of nomination proposals.
The convention also cites: "This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity."
That, Proschan said, meant intangible heritage must always be "living heritage" -- it must continue to be actively produced, maintained, recreated and safeguarded by the communities, groups or individuals concerned, or it simply ceases to be heritage.
"Intangible heritage does not live in archives or museums, libraries or monuments. Rather, it lives only in the minds and bodies of human beings. There is no folklore without the folk, and equally, there is no intangible heritage without the communities and individuals, who are its bearers, stewards and guardians."
The convention`s main goal is to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. One facet of this is ensuring the viability of intangible heritage and laying out a number of possible safeguarding measures, like identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement and transmission, mainly through education.
"But I must emphasize all of these possibilities are indeed safeguarding measures if, and only if, they are aimed at ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural heritage," he said.
"Documentation for its own sake, or simply recording something before it vanishes, is not safeguarding. Research to satisfy the scientific curiosity of researchers or to determine the origin, contours or specificity of a given element of intangible heritage is not safeguarding unless it contributes directly to strengthening the viability of that heritage.
"The best-equipped archive, the most extensive database or the most dazzling interactive website can only be considered to be safeguarding when it can demonstrate it supports the future practice and transmission of the heritage that is stored within it."
In a world of mass communication and global cultural flow, many forms of living heritage are thriving, but he said there are other fragile and even endangered forms in need of measures called for by the convention, at national and international levels, to help communities ensure their heritage remains for their descendants for centuries to come.
"The communities are its owners and stewards. In the end, it is only they who can guarantee their children and grandchildren will continue to have access to the accumulated wisdom and experience of their parents and grandparents."
Source: old.thejakartapost.com (22 April 2008)
