UNDERWATER CULTURAL HERIAGE PROTECTION: AN INDONESIAN OVERVIEW
Taufik Rachmat Nugraha
Padjadjaran University
Abstract
Indonesia has many cultural heritages, which coming from various era. Commonly the protection of cultural heritages had focused on land-based site. Such as in Morotai, and the Java Sea which has numerous pre-Indonesian era up to world war II artefact such as Shipwreck, Airplane and its weapon which persisted underwater, and this artefact is essential for as historical document basis. However, the current condition of these artefacts is poorly damage, or on another hand almost disappear, and mostly caused by human hand. Indonesian Government shall realize the importance of underwater cultural heritage protection (herein referred to as UCH). UU No. 11 Tahun 2010 (Herein referred as Cultural Heritages Protection Act 2010) regarding cultural heritage site protection has no legal basis for this kind of protection. This paper will discuss the urgency of Indonesian Government ratified underwater cultural heritage convention to protect its underwater site, through comparison studies between countries has enacted their UCH national legislation. Ultimately this paper will make a suggestion which could be implemented in the further amendment of Cultural Heritages Protection Act 2010 or enacted specific UCH national legislation.
Keywords: UCH, Indonesian Cultural Heritage, Protection
Topic: Law