Bujang Valley going global

Like in the old days: Elize Van Recnen, 28, from Netherlands (fifth from right) and Jelena Novakovic, 31, from Bosnia Herzegovina who are volunteers at Lembah Bujang Nature Park from Volunteering For International Professionals, trying their hand at iron smelting like it was done 2,000 years ago while being helped by site officials at Sungai Batu Archaeology Site during the Festival Kedah Tua in Sungai Petani.

SUNGAI PETANI: The ancient ruins used by iron smelters and exporters who thrived in Bujang Valley between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago will be nominated for listing as a Unesco archaeological heritage site.

If successful, this would lead to a heritage park portraying an ancient civilisation that dominated South-east Asia about 1,000 years before the earliest sultans shaped the territories that formed present-day Malaysian states.