Sarawak Heritage Ordinance to be fully enforced this year - state minister

KUCHING (Aug 4): The Sarawak Heritage Ordinance 2019 will be fully enforced this year, said state Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

He said the enforcement of the ordinance was to facilitate the duties of the director of the Sarawak Museum Department in smoothing the administration and responsibilities relating to old buildings, and other related matters.

“With this new ordinance, I am confident that tangible and intangible culture, museums, buildings, sites and historical monuments in Sarawak can be managed in the best way, for the good and interest of all communities,” he said while officiating at the Sarawak Museum’s 130th anniversary celebration today.

The Sarawak Museum was completed in 1891 as a result of the efforts of Sarawak’s second white Rajah Charles Brooke, who was very interested in Sarawak's natural history, and it was the first museum built in the Borneo archipelago at that time.

Abdul Karim said given the importance of the Sarawak Museum to Sarawak's socio-economic development, the government, in 2015, had approved a number of allocations to carry out restoration work on the museum in accordance with international conservation standards.

Abdul Karim said that the conservation work had been completed in 2020, and the filling of the exhibition would be carried out in the 12th Malaysia Plan, showcasing the development history of the Sarawak Museum as well as the natural history collection.

He added that the development of the Sarawak Museum, under the Sarawak Museum Campus project, would serve as a catalyst for the progress of Kuching city.

According to him, the museum is a popular destination among visitors to the city, and the number of visitors to the museum is more than to other attractions.

“In 2019, Sarawak received a total of 4.66 million tourists with a revenue of RM11.6 million, and one of the contributors to that amount is the heritage sector,” he said.

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