Tourism and Culture Ministry to turn Sungai Batu into historical tourism site

SUNGAI PETANI: It is a timely moment for the Tourism and Culture Ministry to discuss and obtain an allocation to conduct archaeological research on Sungai Batu site where possibly the oldest civilisation in Southeast Asia once thrived, said its deputy minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.
Speaking at a press conference after launching Kedah Tua International Conference with themed "Sungai Batu the Oldest Civilisation in Southeast Asia" at Park Avenue Hotel here, today, she said a discussion between Tourism and Culture minister Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz and Kedah state government would be arranged soon.
She said the discussion was essential to determined the allocation figures which should be channeled to the site which is regarded by the ministry as viable historical tourism product in the country.
"The allocation is important and needed for the Sungai Batu site in order to obtained better returns from the tourism product we believe in.
"Therefore, the ministry is not afraid to invest in it. We will go all out to obtain the allocation in the interest of our future ," she told reporters.
Also present during the event Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) vice chancellor Datuk Dr Omar Osman; Kedah Religious, Siamese Community Affairs, Tourism and Heritage, Public Works exco Datuk Mohd Rawi Abdul Hamid.
Mas was responding to a question on how much allocation the federal government was willing to channel for the historical site since its discovery in 2007.
Currently, USM has been channeling RM500,000 every year for its researchers to carry out archaeological study at the site.
Mas, who represented Nazri in officiating the conference, said that the conference was good as it set a base for the ministry to request allocation from the federal government prior to packaging the Sungai Batu site as a tourism destination worldwide.
During the press conference, Mohd Rawi said currently, the size of the Sungai Batu site is 40.47ha land which is owned by the state government.
However, further discovery has led researchers to believe that the historical site may expand by another 80.94ha, which is currently owned by private owners.
Therefore, Mohd Rawi said any proposed development project at the 80.94ha site has been put on hold with the state government planning to allocated about RM20 million to take over the land from the private owners.
Asked how much allocation from the state government will be channeled in the Sungai Batu site, Mohd Rawi said he would discuss the matter with the state government and he hope a special fund would be established for the purpose by next year.
During the launching ceremony earlier, Mas said in her speech that the discovery of Sungai Batu site was made through the collaborative research effort of the Global Archaeological Research and the National Heritage Department.
She added that the scientific archaeological research at Sungai Batu revealed structures used for ritual, riverside jetties and iron smelting sites.
The discovery of an iron smelting site used since first century A.D suggests that the Sungai Batu civilisation was economically based on the iron industry.
"Current evidence and chronometric dating suggest that Sungai Batu is the earliest civilisation since 535 B.C in Malaysia and possibly the earliest in Southeast Asia," she said.