UNESCO Designates Three Indonesian Historical Archives as World Collective Memory, Including President Soekarno's Speech at the UN Session

Spokesperson for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Teuku Faizasyah when receiving a certificate from UNESCO. (Source: Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

JAKARTA - Three Indonesian historic archives have been legally recognized and designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the Collective Memory of the World, along with the receipt of their third status certificate by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

Three Indonesian documentary archives with high historical value, namely Soekarno's Speech entitled 'To Build the World Anew' at the 1960 UN General Assembly, First Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, and Hikayat Aceh, were designated as World Collective Memory at the 1960th Executive Council Session. -216 UNESCO in Paris on May 10-14, 2023.

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement on its website that this acknowledgment is clear evidence of Indonesia's superiority in international cultural diplomacy.

By designating these three historical archives as the World Collective Memory, Indonesia has succeeded in introducing the historical values ​​contained in these documents to the world.

In addition, this award also strengthens Indonesia's position in efforts to preserve and promote cultural wealth and national and world history.

"It should also be remembered that this determination is not an end in itself, but rather part of a joint step to safeguard our historical values ​​for generations to come," said Director General of Information and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Teuku Faizasyah, in a statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Monday July 3.

"Hopefully this designation will continue UNESCO's recognition of other important matters in Indonesia," he continued on the sidelines of handing over the three certificates from Indonesia's Permanent Representative at UNESCO, Prof. Ismunandar at the Main Building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pejambon, Central Jakarta.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this historic moment is clear evidence of the hard work, dedication and synergy between experts, the government and the community involved in managing the Indonesian documentary archives.​

It is hoped that this acknowledgment can be an inspiration for all parties in Indonesia to continue to protect and maintain valuable historical archives, said the ministry.

With the designation and submission of these three certificates, Indonesia now has 11 out of a total of 496 World Collective Memory documents that have been determined by UNESCO.

The other eight are the VOC Archives, the Asian-African Conference Archives, the Diponegoro Chronicle, the Borobudur Conservation Archives, the Tsunami Archives, La Galigo, Nagarakartagama, Panji Stories.

In addition to the designation of the three document archives, UNESCO also designated four Indonesian geoparks namely Ijen Geopark, Maros Pangkep Geopark, Merangin Geopark and Raja Ampat Geopark as UNESCO Global Geoparks in the same session.

With the addition of these four new geoparks, Indonesia has 10 out of a total of 195 UNESCO Geoparks in the world. The other six geoparks that entered the list earlier were Batur, Mount Sewu, Cileteuh, Rinjani – Lombok, Toba and Belitong.