The move is also seen by many as the international community’s acknowledgement of the importance of traditional boat-building techniques applied by the nation’s forefathers, especially the people of Bulukumba in South Sulawesi.

These methods have been passed on from generation to generation and continue to develop to this today.

Jafar Pallawa, 60, a boat craftsman from Ara, Bontobahari, Bulukumba, said he and other members of the regency’s boat-making communities were proud that their works had been acknowledged as a cultural heritage.

“We are grateful and proud that the phinisi has received [international] attention. This is an art skill of the Bontobahari people that needs to be preserved,” he said.

The UNESCO acknowledgment certificate was officially presented to the Bulukumba administration and phinisi boat-building communities in an event held at the Tanaberu fish landing port in Bontobahari on Tuesday evening.

The port was flooded with residents and panrita lopi (boat craftsmen) who since Tuesday began gathering at the venue, located not far from Bulukumba’s boat-building center, Lemolemo village, some 175 kilometers south of Makassar.

The Education and Culture Ministry’s culture directorate general, Hilmar Farid, presented the UNESCO certificate to Bulukumba Deputy Regent Tomy Satria Yulianto, who later passed it on to panrita lopi communities in the regency.

Hilmar urged them to conserve and further develop phinisi traditional boat-making techniques.

He suggested the establishment of a vocational school that specializes in phinisi to ensure that a new generation of boatmakers would be able to continue the tradition.

Pinisi boat-making methods have traditionally been passed down by panrita lopi.

“There should be a regeneration [of phinisi craftsmen] to preserve the art form,” said Hilmar.

The Education and Culture Ministry is set to make a phinisi in Tanaberu to be used as an educational laboratory, in which the younger generations can learn more about the boat’s history and the traditional values it represents, Hilmar said.

The phinisi is the second South Sulawesi cultural heritage acknowledged by UNESCO after La Galigo, an ancient Bugis epic creation myth, and the country’s eighth.

Previous UNESCO acknowledgements include the wayang (shadow puppet) and kris in 2008, batik in 2009, the angklung (West Java traditional musical instrument) in 2010, the Saman dance from Aceh in 2011, the noken (traditional Papuan bag) in 2012 and three genres of traditional Balinese dances in 2015.

Meanwhile, the Bulukumba administration has said it planned to build a museum that aimed to record the history of phinisi building activities over the centuries.

It will also cultivate bitte (New Guinea teak), pude (Borneo mahogany) and jati (teak), all of which have been commonly used in the production of phinisi.

These trees are nearly extinct in Bulukumba.

“One of the problems we face now is the availability of certain types of wood needed as raw materials for the production of phinisi, which has continued to decline. It is often the case that to build the boats, we must bring in raw materials from outside of South Sulawesi,” Tomy said.

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