Malaysian Maritime Archaeology: Whither in the Next Decade?

Abstract

The development of maritime archaeology in Southeast Asia is slower even though this region is historically rich in maritime trading ports and maritime polities. Since the 1980s, the progress of maritime archaeology in Malaysia started slowly and with the collaboration between the Malaysian government and private commercial companies. In 2015, a maritime archaeology salvage project took place on Bidong Island, Terengganu, by a local university and local experts. Malaysia also provides through the National Heritage Act 2005 a mechanism to protect the national heritage including underwater cultural heritage to replace the Antiquities Act 1976 and the Treasure Trove Act 1957. The newfound shipwreck site acts as a catalyst in Malaysian waters to improve the effort to protect underwater cultural heritage and continue maritime or underwater archaeology activities in the future through local effort. To do so, a more comprehensive capacity development analysis is needed to establish and secure this new archaeology especially in the academic world in Malaysia using the framework introduced by Jänicke (1997) that provides new insight on how to make sure any effort to establish new discipline or continuation of a good workforce by three systemic framework conditions which are cognitive-informational framework, political-institutional framework, and economic-technological framework. Those three systemic framework conditions are crucial in order to provide and maintain a good continuation effort in maritime archaeology in Malaysia.