KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak Museum Department will engage with the state government to implement several heritage sites as tourist attractions.
In stating this, its head of enforcement cum curator Muhammad Adib Yusof said that there are a few findings, particularly the Japanese landing aircraft in Miri during World War II (WW2).
“We have reserved the site, and we are going to include it under the Sarawak Heritage Ordinance.
“We will gazette the landing aircraft, which is the first site where the Japanese army landed before they began attacking Miri during the war,” he said.
He added that the landing aircraft is located near the lighthouse at Tanjung Lobang near Tun Tuanku Haji Bujang College.
He said this during the forum titled Sarawak Museum Department on Museum on Preserving and Protecting Cultural Heritage, and Understanding the Sarawak Heritage Ordinance in conjunction with the fourth International Conference on Media and Society (iC-MAS2022) at DeTAR Putra Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in Kota Samarahan yesterday.
Adib also stated that for the younger generations to be interested in heritage subjects, a simple yet solid explanation of the exhibition on heritage culture and artefacts should be done.
“This is to get them interested and it is much more understandable because we cannot rely only on artefacts.
“Instead, we can organise an interactive segment, for instance at Borneo Culture Museum, we have books on the history of Sarawak that have been digitalised, and we can read it on screen using our fingers,” he added.
He then also said that one of the few ways to make it more interesting is through technology.
“With the technology, it will attract more of these youngsters to read more on the heritage culture,” he added.
The forum, which is under iC-MAS2022 focuses on how to further preserve and protect the cultural heritage in Sarawak, Sarawak Heritage Ordinance alongside the department’s achievements one of them was organised with two international conferences namely the International Society of Academic Research on Shamanism in August, and International Conference on Niah National Park for World Heritage Site Nomination in September of this year.