10 July 2008

Malaysia's World Heritage sites

Malaysia now has three world heritage sites. With Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca recently joining Gunung Mulu National Park and Kinabalu Park, which came on the list in 2000. Melaka and George Town are considered as one entry.

In 1972, an international treaty, the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, was adopted by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Under this treaty, UNESCO seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.

Except for Brunei, Myanmar, Singapore and Timor Leste, all other countries in South East Asia are on the world heritage list. Cambodia has two sites, including Angkor. Indonesia has seven sites, including the Borobudur Temple and Prambanan Temple Compounds. Lao People's Democratic Republic has two sites, one of them the Town of Luang Prabang. Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam each has five sites.

There are two other sites in Malaysia, which are consideration for the list. They are the Taman Negara National Park of Peninsular Malaysia and Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary (LEWS) and Batang Ai National Park (BANP) in Sarawak. Both were submitted for consideration in 2004.
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