Protection of intangible cultural heritage in Indonesia and Malaysia

With the implementation of the international legal framework on the protection of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) into the national legal systems of Indonesia and Malaysia, this research seeks to discover whether the protection of ICH by these countries has upheld the interests of the various communities in which the cultural heritage originates and whether the laws recognise that cultural heritage are often shared with other states and communities. The legal classifications of the various indigenous communities and the interpretations of ‘indigeneity’ in the two countries have presented problems in the context of ICH protection. The state is regarded as holding the intellectual property rights for some forms of ICH and this has also posed problems in the implementation of the laws to protect the ICH of communities. This thesis employs a community-based perspective and adopts a multidisciplinary approach in exploring questions of the rights to, and benefits of, the heritage. It highlights the discriminatory treatment by the laws of both countries to the indigenous communities, which has fundamentally affected the communities’ efforts to protect their ICH. The study questions the existing processes for ICH protection at the national and regional levels as they lack the inclusion of the communities as the ICH bearers. The research finds that the implementation of the international legal framework in the domestic legal systems has also posed some challenges to protecting the ICH of the communities, among others, due to the changing times and contexts that now require a greater empowerment of the communities, and adequate recognition to be granted as they are the ICH bearers who are inextricably linked to their own cultural heritage.