The Potential of Developing a Heritage Village to Safeguard Intangible Cultural Heritage from the Perspectives of Stakeholders at Pura Tanjung Sabtu, Terengganu

Abstract

Since the ratification of Malaysia on the UNESCO 2003 Convention of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in July 2013, many elements of intangible cultural heritage is safeguarded, such as theatre, dances, music, oral tradition, performing arts and so on. However, academic study focus less attention to the safeguarding of ICH in a cultural heritage village setting. This paper examines the issues, challenges and potential of safeguarding ICH in a heritage village at Terengganu, Malaysia. It explores how the Pura Tanjung Sabtu heritage village aims to contribute to the safeguarding of local people's heritage. This study based on qualitative data, combining the in-depth interviews with the local community around the area and interview with the heritage and tourism experts or officers in Terengganu, as well as observation at the heritage village. The findings indicate that by safeguarding the heritage village, it makes a crucial contribution to the research and documentation of local people heritage. However, the heritage village struggles to disseminate ICH expression to the younger generation apart from the autonomy's issues among stakeholders. The research sums up essential criteria to the safeguarding of ICH are to include local community and potential stakeholders in the safeguarding process, for example by employing them in management positions, and to concentrate more strongly on education and transmission.