Babad heritage, Diponegoro heritage Nagarakretagama Admitted as Unesco's World Memory

Jakarta (Antara) - Babad Diponegoro and Nagarakretagama have been admitted as the Memory of the World (MOW) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). MOW is aimed at protecting and preserving the world history heritage and facilitating universal access of the world documentary heritage, the Indonesian foreign ministry said on its official website. The certificates of the two Indonesian cultural heritage were handed over by Indonesian Permanent Representative to UNESCO Ambassador Carmadi Machbub to Deputy Foreign Minister Wardana at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently. "This is part of the efforts and commitment to keep preserving the noble culture of Indonesian nation", said Ambassador Carmadi Machbub after handing over the UNESCO certificates of Babad Diponegoro and Nagarakretagama. The two Indonesian cultural heritages were accepted in the 11th Session of International Advisory Committee for the Memory of the World Program which was held in Gwangju Metropolitan City, South Korea, on 18-21 June 2013. Babad Diponegoro is an autobiography of Pangeran Diponegoro, which was written during Pangeran Diponegoro's exile in North Sulawesi in 1831-1832, containing among other things the prince's points of view on national and religious leadership. "It is amazing that Babad Diponegoro chronicle having hundreds of pages was written in just nine months by Prince Diponegoro when undergoing his exile", said Ambassador Machbub. Babad Diponegoro was proposed to be included the MOW by the Indonesian National Library and the Dutch National Library (KITLV). In the meantime, the script of Nagarakretagama is a document made by Empu Prapanca depicting the glory and greatness of Majapahit kingdom under the ruling of Hayam Wuruk. The old document was written on lontar leaves with Arabics in Archaic Javanese. It contains legal aspects, laws and government regulations which became the heritage of Majapahit. Previously, in 2011, Epic La Galigo, written between 13th and 15th centuries in the poems of old Bugis language, was registered as the MOW of UNESCO. (*)