Based on the accumulated experience over the course of fifteen years since the adoption of the 2003 Convention, Southeast Asia is well known for its diverse and abundant intangible heritage. Many states in this region have already initiated ICH safeguarding plans with active participation of communities.\nHowever, a number of Member States are still having difficulties employing community‐based safeguarding plan and programs. In implementing the 2003 Convention, much attention should be paid to build capacity to support and safeguard a wider range of ICH Stakeholders, including communities, group, and individuals.\nTherefore, this session will provide an opportunity to share experiences and discuss on the roles the community should exercise in safeguarding ICH. In this session, we will discuss the following questions: (1) Do ICH communities, groups, individuals, and practitioners fully recognise the spirit and significance of the 2003 Convention? (2) Are they subsequently assigned to embody appropriate roles?

The 2003 UNESCO Convention aims to engage governments in ICH safeguarding, with the widest possible collaboration of stakeholders such as communities, groups, NGOs, and where applicable, individuals1. In this context, the government ideally includes Central, Provincial or State, and Local (District of Municipal) governments. It is an important point that among these strata of governments, it is surely local governments that have the maximum direct interaction with and influence upon, the said communities, groups, and individuals through who are hoped to be encouraged to safeguard ICH in their respective places. The Convention also aims to identify and disseminate information regarding good safeguarding practices of ICH2. The Indonesian Heritage Network—Jaringan Kota Pusaka Indonesia (JKPI)—is a good example of networking among local governments for safeguarding ICH.

Traditional music is a form of art capable of determining the survival of the safeguarding of tradition. This is related to the factor of increasing decline of people’s interest in the existence of tradition and increasing advancement of technology, which is considered a sign of modernity. It is as if technological advancement is considered one of the most important needs of the current age, which is then used as a yardstick to measure a person’s ability. Those who have not mastered technology are considered incapable of following the developments of the age, and thus the focus of society is more toward the development of technology. This will surely influence people’s interest in safeguarding the tradition, as the opinion arises that things related to tradition are considered obstacles toward developing technology itself. \n\nThus, technology and tradition are placed as being opposed to one another. On another side, the existence of tradition is often considered something old-fashioned, behind the times, and boring for the younger generation. Even arts practitioners and academics appear to be less interested in researching or doing treatment of new compositions so that the above tradition might become attractive to the younger generation. This article will not discuss all traditional music in Indonesia, but rather will focus on the matter of traditional music of the Dayak ethnic community as one of the original ethnic communities of Kalimantan island.

By applying an evidence-based approach, this paper seeks to share the case of the multinational inscription of Ong Chun Ceremony nominated by China and Malaysia through a fourfold “storyline” to sketch out how the joint action was initiated, developed, and finalized from the pre- to the post-nomination phases. It tries to provide a reflective narrative-interpretation of the community-driven nomination on vision, methodology, and pathway that helped to conceive targeted goals for sustainable effectiveness of joint safeguarding of ICH, including recent community interaction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside a discussion on the way forward to synergistic cooperation across the East Asian sub-region.

The culture in the East Coast of Malay Peninsula are rich in visual and performing arts inherited over time immemorial. The art is also found to have similarities in three different states, despite their geographical gap. The similarities are shared in dialects, languages, presentations, builds, and past legacy artifacts. The Malay craftsmanship is also dominated by the Malay community in the East Coast and it is also produced in the form of art and fashion. Artifacts such as boats, houses, and furniture are still visible until now and they have high artistic value. This paper is aimed at displaying the various type of Malay traditional boats and symbols produced by the Malay community on the craft of the boat. There are several name of the boats produced by local craftsmen based on their function and usability. For example, a small line boat is used in river and coastal areas, the payang boat used by deep-sea fishermen, and the jokong boat is used to transport heavy goods. The art can be seen in the carvings and paintings produced on traditional Malay boats craftsmen in the East Coast. This art does not only serve as an ornament and for its aesthetics, but also has its own symbolism. The decorative art produced shows that the three main aspects necessary in Malay art are function, aesthetics, and ethics. The belief in the existence of supernatural powers – which preserve and safeguard their safety at sea and their ability to get income from marine products – underpins the craft of this decoration art.

Silambam, a martial art originating from Tamil Nadu, South India, that focuses on stick twirling is one of many Indian traditional arts that have survived through the periods of Ancient India, Medieval India, and Modern India, including the British colonial era. It remained alive in other countries as well, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Singapore. Silambam is an ancient Tamil martial art that carries many Tamil cultural values in its training and also during the transmission of the art from master to students.\nAncient Silambam’s cultural heritage and knowledge survived thousands of years through transmission to many generations, but the art is currently facing extinction. This drastic change is due to contemporary Silambam practitioners forgoing the values of the art and adopting elements of other martial art cultures, introducing new traditions such as belt grading systems, becoming more competition focused, and so on. The martial art with these newly adapted elements has been categorized as Sports Silambam. Many new Silambam organizations have been registered and even masters who have coached traditional Silambam are adopting these changes to train students toward success in competitions. Meanwhile, competition organizers offer handsome rewards to the winners in order to entice many young students to learn Sports Silambam. By focusing on the new approach geared toward competition, Sports Silambam masters fail to preserve the original combat techniques and cultural heritage values of authentic Silambam arts. While Sports Silambam is heavily and widely promoted, authentic Silambam masters and practitioners are struggling and facing hurdles to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of this particular ancient Silambam. Adding to the obstacles is the issue of finding the right disciples to ensure the knowledge is transferred to the next generations in the current era of mushrooming globalization.

Culture is chiefly perceived as a driving force for sustainable development in the UN’s action plan for people, planet, and prosperity entitled “Transforming Our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. In this context, there is a foreseeable strength in ICH to generate means for sustainable development. The following issues are considered as starting points of discussion: (1) the methods of aligning commercial activities with ICH safeguarding activities, (2) the possible risks to ICH viability and the ways in which they can be mitigated, and (3) the prospect of moving toward and maintaining a mutual relationship between ICH Safeguarding and development policies.\nKeeping the grassroots level highly pertinent in Session 3, we intend to put various NGOs activities at the center of the discussion, particularly in light of our pursuit to assess their presence in sustainable tourism development and eco‐tourism, looking into the possibility of expanding the role of NGOs in areas such as cultural mapping and gender equality. To end, a plenary discussion will be held. The outcome document will be circulated to share the discussion points of and lessons learned from the meeting.

Co-orgarnized by ICHCAP and Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), this year’s Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference was held in Hue, Vietnam under the theme of ICH NGOs towards Sustainable Development of Communities.

The question of how to apply integrated approach in ICH safeguarding is a fundamental issue in implementing the 2003 Convention. It also entails further questions not only for intangible heritage field, but also other relevant cultural heritage fields.\n\nThis session aims to find out the best method of integrated approaches from the viewpoint of ICH safeguarding within the framework of the 2003 Convention. Such aim will require a discussion of the intangible value of tangible heritage and an inquiry of the tangible elements of ICH by looking into various case studies of 'cultural spaces’.\n

Introduction\n\nIn Malaysia, there is a living traditional art where a storyteller develops the oral tradition, otherwise known as oral literature.\n\nOral tradition is the original source of Malay literature and translated into written literature. One of the practitioners of this oral tradition is known as 'Awang Batil'. Apart from specialised storytellers such as Awang Batil, there are other transmissions of oral literature throughout the country, especially in villages through folk stories or stories of elders that are collected, rewritten and made into collections for children to read.\n\n\nAwang Batil\n\nAwang Batil is a storyteller who provided entertainment and education to the people, especially to the villagers and local community. Awang Batil entertains and educates the community through many classic stories that he inherited. Through those stories, the community is entertained and educated.\n\nOnce upon a time, Awang Batil functioned as a story book, novel, radio, television, movie or video as it is now. He would travel from house to house, village to village, state to state including the state of Kedah, Penang and some areas in the Southern Region of Thailand, especially the Setol Region.\n

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) as defined by the 2003 UNESCO Convention encompasses the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills, which communities recognize as part of their cultural heritage. In the case of Singapore, ICH is important as it represents the diverse practices, knowledge, and living traditions of Singapore’s multicultural society.\n\nIn recent years, the National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) has embarked on a concerted drive to document and safeguard Singapore’s ICH elements as well as to work with public and private sector partners to facilitate the transmission of ICH elements.\n\nPrior to these efforts, NHB studied the best ICH safeguarding practices in various countries, including Hong Kong, South Korea, France, Japan, and Malaysia (Penang). NHB noted that effective ICH safeguarding requires the community involvement and that ICH elements should be allowed to evolve or even disappear with time.\n\nNHB also noted that effective ICH safeguarding involves measures such as research and documentation efforts, recognition schemes for ICH practitioners, the creation of a national inventory, education, and outreach programs, as well as financial grants.\n\nIn November 2016, NHB launched its first nationwide ICH survey to identify key elements of Singapore’s ICH. The survey will be completed by the end of 2018. It will document more than a hundred ICH elements through oral history interviews, research, photography, and videography.\n\nMore recently, NHB announced the development of Our SG Heritage Plan, which is the first masterplan for Singapore’s heritage and museum sector. The masterplan outlines the broad strategies and initiatives for the sector over the next five years (2018 to 2022) and beyond.\n\nOne of the key strategic pillars for Our SG Heritage Plan focuses on ICH and presents the following recommendations:\n\nNHB will develop an ICH inventory to promote public awareness and facilitate public access to ICH information. The inventory will be updated with input from heritage experts and community groups.\nNHB will introduce a new scheme to recognize ICH practitioners who are dedicated to promoting and transmitting different aspects of Singapore’s ICH.\nNHB will step up efforts to research and document Singapore’s ICH and continue to promote research in ICH through research grants.\nNHB will leverage on museum exhibitions, festivals, and programs such as talks, workshops, and showcases to create greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH and ICH practitioners.\nNHB will work with the relevant agencies to ratify the 2003 UNESCO Convention in 2018 and explore possible ICH inscription onto the UNESCO Representative List.\nIn developing the ICH strategies and initiatives, NHB conducted eight engagement sessions involving close to 190 ICH practitioners between November 2016 and September 2017 to solicit views and seek feedback.\n\nAs part of NHB’s public engagement efforts for Our SG Heritage Plan,1. the institution is presently consulting the wider public about the ICH strategies and initiatives through a dedicated website (oursgheritage.sg) and traveling exhibitions.\n\nFrom December 2017 to February 2018, close to 20,000 people have visited the exhibition, and the website has received more than 14,000 visitors. In addition, more than 5,500 people have submitted their views through onsite and online polls.\n\nThrough its efforts to document, safeguard, and facilitate the transmission of Singapore’s ICH, NHB hopes to strengthen the Singaporean identity because it believes that ICH provides links to Singapore’s past, facilitates community involvement, and fosters cultural understanding within and across ethnic communities.\n\nPhoto : The NHB’s traveling exhibition on Our SG Heritage Plan © National Heritage Board of Singapore

On 8 November 2018, ICHCAP’s Associate Expert B.B.P. Hosmillo interviewed Charis Loke, a teacher and artist from Malaysia, after the 2018 NGO Conference in Hue, Vietnam. Charis Loke is an artist programmer and junior trainer at Arts-ED Penang, where she designs and implements community-based arts and culture education for the youth. She also trains schoolteachers in incorporating cultural heritage into their teaching. The following is an excerpt from a two-hour interview with Charis Loke about integrating ICH into non-formal education in Penang, Malaysia.\n\nB.B.P.H.: How does your work relate to ICH?\n\nC.L.: At Arts-ED, we have facilitators, freelance cultural workers, and volunteers. We may not be able to articulate ICH in terms of how it is delineated by the UNESCO 2003 Convention as people working at Arts-ED are regular people, we have day jobs, but we know that where we are has a lot of tangible and cultural heritage. Our goal is to get the younger people to appreciate the values that ICH has. As you can see from our programs, we have some focused on transmitting art forms, where primary school children learn with master teachers. To a great extent, our master teachers reinterpret such art forms though they are still deeply connected to their roots. We are not really about continuing such forms in their original sense because our organization is founded on creative education in which reinterpretation is a viable method of teaching and learning.\n\nIf you ask what specific ICH element we are focusing on, we may perhaps refuse to pinpoint anything but rather suggest that our location, Georgetown, a multicultural place in Penang, is composed of many groups living together. When we do cultural heritage, we have to consider that these groups’ ways of life have evolved, and so the values present in Georgetown cannot be attributed to one ethnic group. We cannot say that this element or that is a Chinese cultural heritage or maybe it is Malay, so it is really hard to define and maybe locating the specificity or source of cultural heritage cannot really enrich that cultural heritage. What we do is integrate the values we know ICH has into subject contents and global issues. For example, a teacher may be asked to use shadow puppets as a tool to teach creativity and collaboration.\n\nB.B.P.H.: Your programs and activities are for free?\n\nC.L.: Yes, our students don’t have to pay.\n\nB.B.P.H.: And your students are mainly children?\n\nC.L.: Yes, but ICH practitioners in Penang are also involved. Actually, there are more people involved than we expected. For instance, some of our programs are done in a market community that’s been around for more than 120 years, so the market sellers and the market administrators can be involved, too.\n\nB.B.P.H.: Earlier this year, ICHCAP hosted an international symposium and network meeting with academics based in Asia-Pacific universities that have or will have degree programs and research initiatives concerning ICH. There has been wider efforts to integrate ICH into formal education, even the UNESCO ICH Chairs are basically entrenched within the system of universities mainly across the world. I think this is a reflection of how more visible and more pronounced the connection between ICH and formal education is. As somebody like you who is involved with integrating ICH into non-formal education, what do you want people to know about the work that you do as an agent of ICH safeguarding in the non-formal education sector?\n\nCL: Being in the non-formal education sector gives you a lot of creative freedom with how you approach the work of ICH Education. When it is not formalized, facilitators have more creativity to come up with teaching resources, and students can also have more creativity in response. This implies, of course, that even the larger community we are a part of gets to have a bigger room in our programs. Because of the freedom we get from the framework of non-formal education, we get to enjoy genuine interaction among those participating in our activities. More importantly, because there is deficiency in Malaysia’s education system, our work can also address the problems of content relevance or fill in the gaps between our culture and the present time that formalized training and schools tend to not be concerned about.\n\nphoto : Charis Loke speaking at the ICH NGO Conference ⓒ ICHCAP