The citation followed last week’s 46^th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, hosted in Delhi, India. At that session, the 21 member states that make up the committee announced the addition of 24 sites worldwide to the 1,999 sites already recognised.

“Including the latest addition, Malaysia has five Unesco World Heritage Sites. The others are Sarawak’s Mount Mulu National Park (2000), Sabah’s Kinabalu Park (2000), Melaka and George Town Historical Cities (2008) and Perak’s Lenggong Valley Archaeological Site (2012),” Motac noted in its press statement.

The UNESCO World Heritage Convention has recognised 1,199 sites as world heritage sites under the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Malaysia

• Gunung Mulu National Park
• Kinabalu Park
• Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca
• Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley
• The Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves Complex

In its citations for the 24 additions, the World Heritage Convention identified the distinct attributes of each property posted on its website.   

The Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves Complex Malaysia

“This complex of colossal, interconnected caverns is located near the west coast of Borneo Island at the centre of Niah National Park. It contains the longest known records of human interaction with rainforests, spanning at least 50,000 years, from the Pleistocene to the Mid-Holocene periods. The rich archaeological deposits, prehistoric rock paintings, and boat-shaped burials found at the northern edge of the massif illustrate biological and human life during this time and contribute greatly to the knowledge of human development, adaptation and migration in Southeast Asia, as well as in a global context. Local communities still observe an ancient tradition of ‘molong’ — ‘take only what you need’ — when harvesting guano and valuable edible bird’s nests from the caves.”

Malaysia’s application for Niah National Park to be considered by the World Heritage Convention commenced in 2019, with the official submission presented to the committee in 2021.

Criteria for selection

To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. Until the end of 2004, World Heritage sites were selected based on six cultural and four natural criteria. With the adoption of the revised Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, only one set of 10 criteria exists.

Selection criteria

(i) Represents a masterpiece of human creative genius;

(ii) to exhibit an important interchange of human values over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

(iii) to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared;

(iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

(v) to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land use, or sea use which is representative of a culture (or cultures) or human interaction with the environment, especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

(vi) to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, ideas, or beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

(vii) to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

(viii) to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

(ix) to be outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

(x) to contain the most significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

Committee makeup

The World Heritage Committee is one of the two bodies governing the Convention for the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage. It comprises the representatives of 21 States, elected from the 195 member states that are signatories to the Convention.

For more information on Sarawak visit www.sarawaktourism.com.

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Hailing from Penang, Andrea was the second main winner of the campaign after she posted a video on her Facebook page about her kid’s interest in visiting Sabah.

Sabah Tourism organized the ‘Fly Me To Sabah’ contest from 14 February to 14 April 2022. Through this contest, participants were required to post their virtual letters to Sabah Tourism via Facebook and Instagram and use the required hashtags to win their ‘bucket list’ holiday.

“The #flymetosabah campaign has shown a promising result with a total of 245 eligible entries at the end of the campaign. Our team also ran a mini #flymetosabah Matta Fair edition held recently on the 9-10 April 2022 at the World Trade Center, Kuala Lumpur,” said Noredah Othman, Chief Executive Officer of Sabah Tourism Board.

“The campaign has been able to stimulate domestic travel demands, especially since our international border was not open until 1 April 2022”, she added.

Arrival statistics for March 2022 showed an increased number of domestic visitors to Sabah with a total of 119,399 arrivals that made up 50.9% of the total domestic arrival for the same month pre-Covid-19 pandemic in 2019.

“I remember the day when the 14^th March winner was announced. I was making lunch and checking my phone on and off. I remember thinking that I shouldn’t get my hopes up and then chiding myself for that very thought as it’s okay to hope and pray for the things you want. Even so, later in the afternoon, when I saw myself tagged by the SABAH, Malaysian Borneo social media account, I could barely believe my eyes. There was a lot of yelling and cheering going around, and all three kids started chanting, “We are going to Sabah!” quoted Andrea to Sabah Tourism Board.

Andrea, with her husband, Chong Han Yao and their three children, aged 5 to 8, recently returned from their bucket list Sabah holiday. They were in Sabah for four days visiting various attractions around the West Coast. Among the places that they visited were Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Klias Wetland, experiencing the North Borneo sunset cruise and city tours.

“I think our visit was amazing. All our three kids are very different, but across the whole trip, Kota Kinabalu offered us so many unique things that each kid took to at different times. For our youngest, it was snorkelling at the TARP islands and getting a glimpse at what lives under the sea. Our middle child remains thrilled at seeing a live crocodile at the Klias river and having his fill on the North Borneo Cruise ship. Our daughter loved the food and all the places that allowed her to be in the water.”

The #flymetosabah campaign has awarded four main winners with the most creative, unique, and exciting ‘letter’. Eighty (80) participants received Sabah Tourism’s limited merchandise items.

The three other winners of #flymetosabah are Marcel George from Sarawak, Zaki Yusof from Kuala Lumpur, and Siti Rohayu Aziz from Selangor. They are scheduled to travel to Sabah between June to September.

The winning entries can be seen at www.flymetosabah.sabahtourism.com.

Photo courtesy of Andrea Filmer

About Sabah Tourism Board

The Sabah Tourism Board, generally known as Sabah Tourism, is an agency of the Sabah State Government operating under the purview of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment. Sabah Tourism was first established in August 1976 as the Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation and later re-established as Sabah Tourism Board.

(Your Stories: Sabah Tourism Board)

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