Our society is moving toward becoming more urban, individualistic, and modern. As it does so, traditional communities may eventually experience a real, and not just relative, local cultural decline. There is a threat that more traditions will vanish as the traditional way of life becomes less and less known, and the local economy system becomes outdated. However, we should also acknowledge that some traditional\ncommunities still exist. Lamalera is one of those traditional communities. In this paper, I try to single out the Lamalera tradition—namely ola nua, particularly its sea-based economy, which might be different from most economy systems in modern society. There are three reasons for this choice. First, Lamalera is a traditional community that exemplifies a sea-based economy as an integral part of society. Second, Lamalera has a long history of this traditional economy. Third, the sea-based economy in Lamalera has been a unique and distinctive culture that appropriates traditional economy as a way of life for Lamalerans, not as an ‘imposed thing’ from outside. In modern society, which is characterized by capitalism and mechanization (industrialization), the economy system causes alienation and exploitation: workers are alienated from their own human potential. In a contemporary perspective, as individual workers become highly specialized in division of labor, the deployment of tasks per person results in the performance to be more impersonal and\nautomated. In Lamalera, on the other hand, even with differentiation in positions and roles, Lamalerans work and express their potentials for the purpose of the community to which they belong.

The lacquer craft is one of the traditional crafts with tangible manifestation of intangible cultural heritage (ICH). Hence, it can play an important role in representing the culture and traditions of any country and considered an effective way to preserve of rich traditional arts, cultural heritage, traditional skills and talents which are associated with people’s lifestyle as well as history. As a typical ICH in Asia, traditional lacquer craft contains a system of knowledge, perspectives, emotions, creativities, and a great way to document historical periods around the world and throughout the times. Over time, the lacquer craft is not only an ICH with an admirable historical length, but it has also been pushed up into a creative art form based on wisdom of stakeholder communities.

The role of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) as a guarantee for sustainable development has been recognized in the 2003 Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. The essence of ICH as a living heritage is anchored in the concept of sustainability wherein its practice, intergenerational transmission and re-creation influence its continuity among its bearers and practitioners. One of the safeguarding measures for ICH is through intergenerational transmission where one generation transmits their heritage to the coming generation as a mechanism to keep their heritage alive and thriving. Consequently, sustainability operates in a similar dynamic principle that assures for a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.