Pantun among three cultural arts proposed to UNESCO

Pantun or the Malay poetry is one of the three community cultural arts which have been nominated as an intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to be recognised as a world heritage.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid who is also the President of the Malaysia UNESCO National Commission (SKUM) said two other cultural forms which were nominated for recognition were Dondang Sayang and Pesta Wangkang.

He said the nomination of pantun was jointly made with the Indonesian government.

"The nomination was submitted to UNESCO on March 31. We (SKUM) are still waiting for the UNESCO assessment committee to meet us on this," he told reporters after chairing the 39th SKUM Meeting here Monday.

Also present were Education Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad who is also SKUM vice-president.

Commenting further, Mahdzir said SKUM also felt the forest reserve areas in Sabah, namely the Danum Valley and Maliau Basin were eligible to be nominated as world heritage sites as both areas had virgin forests.

-- BERNAMA