Recognition for 700-year-old Batu Bersurat

KUALA LUMPUR: The Batu Bersurat Terengganu - which dates back to 1303 - has been recognised by Unesco as an item worthy for preservation for future generations.

Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said a Unesco International Advisory Committee meeting in Barbados on July 13 had listed the 700-year-old inscribed stone as an item eligible for such recognition.

The Batu Bersurat Terengganu, uncovered after floods in Kuala Berang in 1899, is one of the earliest documented evidence of Jawi inscription in the world of Muslim Malays in South East Asia.

Dr Rais said Malaysians should realise that they possessed heritage which had significance around the world.

“We should be proud that the earliest Jawi inscription was found in our own country,” he told reporters after unveiling a replica of the Batu Bersurat at the ministry yesterday.

He hoped this would bring about a better understanding of Malaysian heritage.

Malaysia has submitted two applications for nomination under the category Memory of the World International Register programme during the Barbados meeting - the stone and the Straits Postcards.

The programme was to ensure that national heritage in the form of documentation around the world would be preserved for future generations. Among others, the items were judged on authenticity, international influence and significance, and age.

Besides the inscribed stone, Malaysia has been awarded with recognition under the programme for the Hikayat Hang Tuah (the Epic of Hang Tuah), Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals) and Surat-surat Sultan Abdul Hamid (The Letters of Sultan Abdul Hamid).