The Information Communication and Culture Ministry will make research at the Bujang Valley archaeological site in Kedah its major programme under the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP), said its minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.
He said the research would involve foreign experts who would study the findings from the archaeological, anthropological and scientific aspects so that the results would be conclusive and not based on hypothesis.
“I will try to propose to the Economic Planning Unit to put the project as the ministry’s main programme for the 10MP. The amount (of allocation) is not known yet. This depends on the working papers to be submitted by Prof Zuraina (Majid) and Prof Mohd Mokhtar (Saidin),” he told reporters after opening the International Conference on the Bujang Valley and Early Civilisation in Southeast Asia, here yesterday.
Prof Emeritus Zuraina is the National Heritage Commissioner while Prof Mokhtar is the Global Archaeology Research Director at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
He said the findings would help prove the existence of an old civilisation, much older than those found in Angkor Wat in Cambodia or the Borobudur in Java, Indonesia.
Rais. Photo by Mohd Izwan Mohd Nazam
He also said cabinet ministers had been informed of the findings and they too had shown interest in the continuation of the research in the area.
“In determining the human development programmes for the 10MP, we should not forget the importance of studying the roots of own civilisation through history as well as research on archaeological sites.” — Bernama
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, July 7, 2010.
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