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nternational and local academics plan to propose the ancient Balinese lontar (palm leaf manuscripts) be recognized by UNESCO.

I Wayan Geriya, professor of anthropology at Udayna University, said this was a recommendation generated by the Saturday seminar on lontar at the Bali Arts Center in Denpasar.

'€œLontar deserve to get UNESCO'€™s recognition as an intangible part of Balinese culture,'€ said Geriya.

UNESCO has already acknowledged Indonesia'€™s keris (short dagger), batik and angklung (West Javanese bamboo musical instrument) as intangible cultural heritage. Also included in early June 2013 was Babad Diponegoro, the old manuscripts of Prince Diponegoro from Central Java, this time in the Memory of the World program. Last year, UNESCO also inscribed Bali'€™s subak (traditional farming and irrigation system) as a world heritage site.

'€œLontar are as important as keris and batik,'€ declared Geriya.

Ron Jenkins, professor of theater from Wesleyan University in the US, said he strongly believed that lontar are a true treasure of world culture.

'€œThe complexity, sophistication and literary beauty are not fully appreciated inside or outside of Indonesia. If more of the lontar were translated, the world would recognize the importance of Indonesia'€™s contributions to global culture,'€ explained Jenkins, who led the joint team of American and Balinese scholars to digitize and translate thousands of ancient Balinese lontar manuscripts and upload them to the Internet Archive Foundation'€™s website to enable people around the world to access the lontar and learn more about the value of their content.

Jenkins further said that it was not enough to declare lontar a UNESCO treasure.

The hard work of transcribing and translating the lontar had to be done as well, or the lontar would remain quaint curiosities to the outside world.

'€œThe situation reminds me of my work translating the Italian Nobel prize winner Dario Fo. Before his works were translated into other languages, no one knew how magnificent his writing was. When translations appeared around the world, he won the Nobel Prize for literature. The lontar have to be translated before they get world recognition and Indonesians will begin winning Nobel prizes,'€ Jenkins noted.

The other recommendation was to establish a lontar committee tasked with preserving the lontar and promoting their literary works in Indonesia and other countries. '€œThe committee members will also be assigned to carry out research and studies on lontar,'€ Geriya explained.

Ketut Suastika, head of Bali Cultural office, welcomed the recommendations saying that the provincial administration would fully support them.

However, Jenkins reminded that any lontar committee would only be useful if it also included international scholars and translators and had the full support of the government.