Not as Cultured as We Thought

(8/2/2004)

A late July 2004 announcement in many major national and local newspapers and at least one official Indonesian government web site of the addition of 3 locations in Bali to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites was, in a word, wrong.

Joining in the general rejoice of having three Bali sites added in a fell stroke to the prestigious UNESCO Heritage list, balidisocvery.com also carried a similar erroneous report in its coverage [UNESCO Heritage List Adds 3 Bali Sites].

Not on the List and Not Even in Consideration

Further indepedent enquiries by balidisocvery.com with UNESCO officials have revealed the following:

• Indonesia has no Heritage Sites under consideration in the current 17 month review process undertaken by UNESCO before any new Heritage Site is announced.

• Indonesian officials, either on a national or regional basis, reportedly did submit separate recommendations for the addition of the three Bali Heritage Sites and Tanah Toraja in Sulawesi in the last round of nominations. Apparently, all the Indonesian applications were returned by UNESCO's Selection Committee due to administrative and application deficiencies. According to a UNESCO official, those deficiencies remained unaddressed until the deadline for new applications passed.

• All submissions for addition to UNESCO's World Heritage List undergo a 17 month review process and, as a rule, any one U.N. member nation is limited to a maximum of one new heritage site inductee in any given year.

Unfortunately, the recent widespread announcement of the addition of 3 new UNESCO Heritage Sites in Bali is more reflective of wishful thinking than any reality.