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'Phinisi' nominated for world cultural heritage
The result of the nomination will be announced between September and October at the UNESCO main office in Paris.
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The exterior of Alila Purnama. The ship is handcrafted in the traditional style of a Phinisi as used by the Bugis seafarers from South Sulawesi. (Alila Hotels/-)
U
nited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has nominated phinisi to be added to the list of world cultural heritage.
The result of the nomination will be announced between September and October at the UNESCO main office in Paris.
Phinisi is a traditional ship that was mainly built by Bugis-Makassar ethnic group in South Sulawesi who mostly resided in Bira village, Bonto Bahari district, Bulukumba regency. It’s the only ship that managed to sail across the five continents from Vancouver in Canada to Pacific Ocean, Madagascar and Japan.
“It takes more than two years just to get a nomination and it will compete against 195 countries to be showcased at a UNESCO exhibition,” said the head of Tourism Ministry’s Maritime Tourism Acceleration Team, Indroyono Soesilo.
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“Phinisi has been known since a long time ago;it got everyone’s attention during an expedition to Vancouver, Canada in 1986. I truly hope the ship can be listed as a world cultural heritage,” Indroyono added.
Indroyono said that apart from being a trade ship, phinisi can be used as a tourist ship that takes people for diving or fishing.
As an effort to turn phinisi into a regular tourist ship, the development of special marina for cruise ships will begin at the Benoa Port in Bali in September and is expected to be done by 2018.
The design of the traditional boat itself has also been used to design the Indonesian booth during international tourism exhibitions. In 2016, Indonesian booth managed to bring home 46 awards from 22 countries and 11 awards from six countries for this year alone.
Prior to phinisi, the Borobudur Temple, angklung, batik and wayang kulit have all been recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage. (kes)
