The Ministry of Culture says it is speeding up efforts to make Thailand party to Unesco's list of intangible cultural heritage, and seeks support from the public for planned legislation.
Culture permanent secretary Prisana Pongtatpitakkul on Tuesday said the ministry was organising public hearings on a draft bill on intangible cultural heritage in each region of the country, in order to gauge the opinions of local academics, artists, craftsmen and the general public.
After the completion of the hearings, the ministry would take all recommendations into consideration in preparing a submission, along with the proposed legislation, to the cabinet.
If parliament gives Thailand approval to join the Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the ministry would then make an immediate request for Thailand's inclusion, she said.
Thailand is drawing up its own list of intangible treasures, which it can submit to Unesco once it has ratified the treaty governing such inscriptions. A list started by the Cultural Promotion Department in 2009 now has 150 intangible heritage items, including the Thai Shadow Puppet Theatre. A listing by Unesco results in international recognition for those items, and funding to help preserve them.
Hundreds of people pushed, prodded and stretched their way to a new world record for the biggest simultaneous group massage, in Bangkok on Aug 31, 2012. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)
Mrs Prisana said the 50 items on the list of endangered cultural wisdom legacy are in seven categories – Performing Arts (sae-pa, in which a performer recites a traditional poem; sae-pa, which conveys the reciprocal relationship of all living beings); Folk Literature (Likay Hulu, folk theatre with music, for example); Language (for example, the language of the Nhakur ethnic group in northeastern Thailand); and knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe (Thai traditional massage, Tom Yum Kung, and Rusie Dutton hermit yoga postures, for example).
She said many of these intangible cultural heritages are on the verge of extinction.
Intangible heritage items are based on tradition or, as Unesco puts it, are living expressions inherited from ancestors and passed on to successors.
These include oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts, and even knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, its website says.
Unesco says intangible heritage helps maintain cultural diversity in the face of growing globalisation.
Since 2006, when the Convention for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage came into effect, Unesco has listed 31 intangible heritage items in need of urgent safeguarding, and 257 items of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The convention had been ratified by 149 states as of January 2013.
A Unesco listing results in intangible heritage items gaining international attention. Resources to help support preservation usually flow to those countries where the items are based.
However, some officials regard the process of submitting items for recognition as a "race", as Unesco does not approve all applications put to it.
Thailand and Myanmar are the only two Asean nations which are not already party to the convention.