The two icons were the legendary figure of Arung Palakka and the traditional Phinisi boat, he said.
The two icons deserved international recognition as a world cultural heritage because they had a very high historical value and also because they were already well-known to the world.
"In the past, South Sulawesi had proposed the nomination of the I Lagaligo script as a world cultural heritage," Mukhlis said.
He said, actually many other cultural objects of South Sulawesi were worthy of world heritage status considering that South Sulawesi had a very high culture.
After the cultural objects had become a world cultural heritages, then the culture of South Sulawesi internationally awarded and means to belong to the world.
"This is very important, considering that at this time we have entered an era of creative economy, in which include cultural industries," Mukhlis noted.
To be able to serve as a world cultural heritage, the culture firstly put to the UNESCO committee to Indonesia which begins with scientific dialogue.
The result of the scientific dialogue will be submitted to the national level and even to international level, Mukhlis explained.
"The proposal to make such local culture to be the national cultural heritage is not covered only by the governments, but also can be done by the community," he added.
He said, culture is a valuable asset for a region and nation as well as can be managed as a local revenue source. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
