"Our expectation in establishing subak, the traditional irrigation system, as a world cultural heritage went through several processes and a lot of hard work over almost 12 years," said Prof Dr I Wayan Windia, MS, the secretary of the World Cultural Heritage planning and proposal committee in Bali last Monday.
Windia, a professor at Udayana University in Denpasar, stressed that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation`s (UNESCO`s) decision to conserve subak in Bali should receive attention from the Indonesian government, the Bali provincial government and the district government in order to conserve and continue subak for the future.
According to Prof Windia, who is the head of the Quality Loan in Ubud, the government needs to address "how a farmer can be happy in pursuing and continuing his job as a farmer, so that he can still protect his own land and avoid alteration."
He reminded the government that it is very important to pay serious attention to farmers and to ensure that subak is not known as a world cultural heritage that exists in an unkempt and dirty state.
"If this happens in the future, subak will no longer be acknowledged by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage. This will embarrass the Indonesian government on the international front," Prof Windia cautioned.
That is why, according to Windia, the government needs to pay attention to the needs of farmers, so that they are happy to work. The attention starts from providing suitable water irrigation systems, the necessary seeds, the marketing of their products, tax subsidies and education scholarships extending to the university level for farmers` children with high grades and high achievements, he added.
The Vice Minister for Education and Culture, Windu Nuryanti, confirmed that the Balinese cultural aspect of subak, as a mirror for Tri Hita Karana, has just been approved for designation as a world cultural heritage by UNESCO.
According to Nuryanti, the decision was made during a court session held at St Petersburg, Russia, on June 20, 2012.
The struggle to establish subak as a world cultural heritage went on for 12 years, and the world not only supports the decision but is also proud of Indonesia`s achievements.
UNESCO is an organisation whose objective is to support cooperation between countries through education, science and culture and to enforce law, human rights and justice throughout the world.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
