Govt To Register Tana Toraja For WCH

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - The Ministry of Education and Culture will register Tana Toraja as Indonesia's nomination for World Cultural Heritage (WCH) 2013 listing.

"The government will register Tana Toraja for a World Cultural Heritage listing because it is an Indonesian cultural heritage that is unique and meets the WCH requirements," said Prof Kacung Marijan, the Education and Culture Ministry's director general of culture, at the UNESCO World Heritage Sites Nomination and Management Plan Development conference in Denpasar, on Monday.

In order to ensure that Tana Toraja gets listed as a World Cultural Heritage site, he added, the Education and Culture Ministry appointed a special team that would assess the site as per UNESCO requirements.

"Considering the positive developments in this effort, we are optimistic that Tana Toraja will make it to the WCH listing," he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Chief Executive of the Nation Commission for UNESCO, Prof Arief Rachman, said: "Five criteria need to be met for WCH listing - originality, universal value, economic benefits, proper site management, and adequate infrastructure."

"Tana Toraja meets all the criteria and deserves to be nominated for WCH listing in 2013," he pointed out.

The director of UNESCO office in Jakarta, Hubert Gijzen, stated that in order for a site to qualify for WCH listing, "it must be proved that the site benefits local economic growth". (*/T007)