Deputy Tourism and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said plans were being made for an “archaeotourism” site at Kedah Tua which extends from Lembah Bujang to Sungai Batu up to Penang’s mainland border of Guar Kepah, near Penaga, for international visitors.
He said an agreement would be signed between the government and the Aga Khan Trust, a philanthropic organisation which has been helping Penang restore some of its heritage buildings and sites to undertake this.
Bakthiar said the Kedah Tua site, where Sungai Batu has been recognised as Southeast Asia’s oldest civilization, has tremendous tourism potential.
He said the government was also mindful of unnecessary development, so it would come up with a Special Area Plan for the Bujang Valley site to ensure restriction on development was put in place.
“Our priority right now is to form a museum which will be an information centre so that more can learn about our civilisation,” Bakhtiar said.
He also revealed that the Kedah sultan had a keen interest in Lembah Bujang, and had pledged an undisclosed sum to develop it.
Earlier, Bakhtiar opened the fourth National Archaeology Seminar at a hotel here, organised by Universiti Sains Malaysia and the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority.
In 2016, the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex was declared as showing the earliest and oldest civilisation in Southeast Asia by Oxford University archaeologist Stephen Oppenheimer and four other experts.
Five archaeological experts, representing five world civilisations, namely Mesopotamia, Indus, Mesoamerica, China and Greek-Rome, signed a declaration plaque declaring Sungai Tua as the region’s oldest civilisation site.
Meanwhile, at the same function, heritage commissioner Zainah Ibrahim detailed the number of archaeological sites in the country. Of a total of 965 sites, 822 were on land and 143 were underwater, she said.
She said only 13 were gazetted as “national heritage sites”, while eight were classified as “heritage sites” under the National Heritage Act 2005.
Zainah said another 149 would be listed soon.
Chiming in, Bakhtiar said Malaysia had four Unesco sites: George Town and Melaka which are jointly awarded sites, the Lenggong Valley, Kinabalu Park and Mulu National Park.
He said four more sites had been identified as possible Unesco sites: the Gombak Selangor Quartz Ridge (formerly Klang Gates Ridge), the Forest Reserve Institute of Malaysia and the Royal Belum Forest.