Aim to get Batu Caves on Heritage Sites list

ACCORDING to information in the Unesco website, about 20% of the World Heritage Sites have some sort of religious or spiritual connection.

At least 30 Hindu places of worship are already listed in the World Heritage Sites list. Set aside the world-famous Angkor Wat and Prambanan Temple, other Hindu temples in the prestigious list are Elephanta Caves, Kailasnatha Temple (Ellora Caves) and Konar Sun Temple in India, and Pashupatinath Temple and Changu Narayan in Nepal.

As a world heritage enthusiast who is maintaining a world heritage website named world-heritage-site.com for fun, I would like to rebut Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz’s view that Batu Caves does not meet a single criterion for listing in the Unesco World Heritage List.

I believe Batu Caves can meet at least three criteria in the category of cultural and natural heritage properties, as follows:

> To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared;

> To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance; and

> To contain the most important and 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.

The celebration of Thaipusam in Batu Caves is a magnificent religious event not seen in other parts of the world, including in India. Where can you see over a million Hindu devotees and tens of thousands of tourists congregating in a place of worship for two to three days year after year? It’s a world wonder!

The fact that Thaipusam has been celebrated for the 125th time since 1891 in Batu Caves is an amazing achievement for a young nation like Malaysia.

The cave system, especially the Dark Cave in Batu Caves is the habitat of a wildlife community dating back millions of years. More scientific studies with more funding from the Government will reveal the huge diversity of bat and spider species in the cave.

It’s not logical to expect a property to meet the Unesco procedural requirements after just a preliminary or internal assessment conducted by staff of the National Heritage Department.

After all, it took Malacca and Penang more than 10 years before they were declared a World Heritage Sites. And it took Singapore five years to get its Botanic Gardens listed as a World Heritage Site, and that was after 15 years of painstaking restoration works on the gardens.

Batu Caves can be listed as a World Heritage Site in five to 10 years’ if there is concerted effort, sheer determination and political will from all stakeholders.

The only way to convince our rakyat and especially the Hindu devotees is to invite international experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) to make a comprehensive, professional and independent assessment or feasibility study on Batu Caves.

“Janji itu kota” is a reminder for our national leaders to deliver on the promises they made to the people, and listing Batu Caves as a World Heritage Site is one of them.

NK KHOO

Kuala Lumpur