Pantun among three cultural arts proposed to Unesco

KOTA KINABALU: Pantun, or Malay poetry, is one of the three community cultural arts which have been nominated as an intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation ( Unesco) to be recognised as a world heritage.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, who is also the president of the Malaysia Unesco National Commission (SKUM), said two other cultural forms which were nominated for recognition were Dondang Sayang and Pesta Wangkang.

He said the nomination of pantun was jointly made with the Indonesian government.

“The nomination was submitted to Unesco on March 31. We ( SKUM) are still waiting for the Unesco assessment committee to meet us on this,” he told reporters after chairing the 39th SKUM meeting here yesterday. — Bernama