National heritage preservation should rise from people's hearts - Dr. Jagath Balasuriya

By Ranil Wijayapala

Dr. Jagath Balasuriya

Preservation of all historical and archaeological heritages in Sri Lanka, restructuring of sacred places, development of infrastructure facilities and handing over such heritages to future generation are the key aspirations entrusted with the Ministry of National Heritage which was formed under a key concept of Mahinda Chinthanaya. Treasure hunters and the groups working with religious and ethnic interests have posed a challenge for the Ministry to achieve its task. Dr. Jagath Balasuriya, Minister of National Heritage in an interview with the Sunday Observer explained how they are going to face these challenges in preserving the national heritage to the future generation and how they are striving to make their contribution to the national economy through these national heritage sites whilst providing space for the development activities, striking a balance between the development activities and preservation of national heritage sites.

Q: Under the National Heritage Ministry there are institutions that are related to the history, religion, culture and arts of the country. How do you make use of these institutions for the development of the country?

A: The National Heritage Ministry was established very recently and our Ministry is entrusted with the task of protecting the tangible heritage of the country. Whilst engaging in the task of protecting these heritage sites with archaeological and historical value we are also combining our activities with the national economy by making use of these sites for the tourism industry. In tourism industry we get 35 percent of heritage tourists. These heritage tourists are mainly from the middle class and with intellectual background. Therefore, we have to be careful to protect our identity when making use of our heritage sites for the tourism industry.

Q: What are the problems the Ministry is facing in the process of using these heritage sites for tourism industry?

A: When we are engaged in the tourism industry we are facing problems and we have to act within certain limitations. Although these national heritage sites come under the Archaeological Department, the Central Cultural Fund under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs is issuing tickets for tourists entering those sites. Therefore, a major share of the income goes to the Central Cultural Fund. On the directive of the President we are also getting a percentage out of it. The tendency of the issuing tickets by each heritage sites within the main site has also become a discouraging factor to attract tourists as they have to pay four or five times within that site. We have to take action on this issue. Otherwise people will try for alternative access to these religious sites. When tackling this issue, we have to face problems as these sites are protected by monks who were living in those religious sites for years. If we take action to stop issuing tickets that will developed into a political issue. So we need to have a comprehensive dialogue on this issue to settle these problems.

Q: Treasure hunters have become a big threat in protecting the archaeological sites and religious sites with historical background. What are the measures the Ministry has taken to face this challenging situation?

A: According to our archaeological officers, there is a mythical belief among the treasure hunters that these archaeological sites are having treasure inside them. Honestly speaking, during the Kalinga Magha invasion the treasure we had were robbed and taken away and there is no truth about these stories. But people believe that there may be something valuable in those archaeological sites and vandalising them in search of treasure. It is not practical to protect all the sites since we are having 250,000 archaeological sites. In the Police Department also we have only 80,000 policemen. To deploy at least one policeman for each site we need 250,000 policemen. Therefore, it is not practical to deploy such police force to protect these sites. To meet this challenge we are in the process of amending the existing laws to give maximum punishment for treasure hunters and those who are vandalising the archaeological sites. Through this process we are expecting to impose maximum fine on them and confiscate the assets such as vehicles used for such acts.

Q: How do you get the community and the children participation in protecting these archaeological sites?

A: To get the community participation for these endeavours we are also having a program to form Puravidya Kava (Archaeological Circles) to protect the isolated. The community and the volunteer organisations can contribute in protecting the archaeological sites. In addition to that we are also conducting programs to educate the children from their young age about the importance of these archaeological sites.

This program is called Daye Urumaya Daruvanta (National Heritage for the children). We have also had discussion with the Education Ministry and have come to an agreement to include the national heritage in the school curriculum. Under this program the heritage will be taught in schools as a subject.

Through this process we should educate the public and make aware of them about these sites because if they are having feeling about these sites only we can protect them. If people are not caring about them the task of protecting them will be a difficult one.

Q: What are the other practical problems the Ministry is facing when protecting these sites?

A: Protecting some of these sites are not practically possib le because they are located inside jungles and it is difficult to deploy people to protect them. In the East one Dagoba with archaeological value has been demolished and another site has been dug and made use for a paddy land as some communities living around these sites do not value the sites as they are not connected to their community.

Funding for protecting these sites is a big issue as the Ministry has to depend on the Treasury funds. With those funding it is very difficult to protect 250,000 archaeological sites across the country.

The funds to preserve those archaeological sites flow mainly to the Central Cultural Fund and it comes under the Cultural Affairs Ministry. Although President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed the CCF to allocate 20 percent of the CCF funds to our Ministry we are getting only 10 to 15 percent funds.

Q: During the colonial period many of our artifacts were taken to their countries. Is there any plan to claim those artifacts back to the country?

A: During Portuguese, Dutch and British period our archaeological sites were not damaged that much. Many of our artifacts were taken to their museums. There is a justification for taking our artifacts to Britain because we were under Great Britain for years and we were a colony under them and they ruled our country for nearly one and half centuries. Therefore, countries which were under colonial rule for years are planning to make their representation to the UNESCO to claim their artifacts back to their countries. UNESCO is not bound to act on this issue but if those countries are willing to do so they can return those artifacts to the original countries. This cannot be done through legal process. If they are not willing to give back our artifacts, we are requesting at least to give us a replica of those artifacts to be displayed in our museums.

Q: With the end of the three decades long war against terrorism many archaeological sites in the North and the East have also surfaced. Do you have a separate program to protect these sites?

A: Even before the eruption of the conflict there were many archaeological sites in the North and the East. With the eruption of the war no archaeological officers could visit those places. The LTTE tried to remove that historical evidence from the North East to show that the North and East was the historical habitat of the Tamil people. But they could not remove all of them. After the end of the war against terrorism we have been able to recover a significant number of sites especially from the East. We have found Buddhist sites from the Delft Island also. In Mannar too we have a lot of archaeological sites. Therefore, we are having a separate program to identify the sites with historical value in the North and East and preserve them.

Q: Do you think that Sri Lanka is getting maximum benefit out of these archaeological sites to promote tourism industry and get contribution to the economy of the country?

A: We have good potential from getting more contribution to the tourism industry from these archaeological sites. To get the maximum benefit out of these sites we need to have people with expert knowledge about cultural tourism in the Tourist Board. Since there are 35 percent cultural tourists arriving in the country, we need to give more attention towards this situation.

Q: The archaeological sites and religious places sometimes become an obstacle for the expansion of the tourism industry and other development activities in the country. How can we balance the situation of protecting these sites and continuing with the development of the country?

A: The Archaeological Act is very powerful. Trying to implement it will cause a hindrance for development activities. For instance, the Port at Ruwanwella has become an obstacle for the widening of Kegalle - Avissawella Road. To widen the road the Fort has to be partially demolished. So we have to strike a balance between the archaeological sites and the development activities. The countries with good economic background can invest money for protecting the sites with archaeological value. But countries like us cannot afford to do that. Therefore we have to balance the development activities and the protection of the national heritage.

Q: In the recent past there were incidents in which the artifacts at the National Museum were stolen. Is there any new program to improve the security of the museums to protect these valuable artifacts?

A: These are not limited to our country. These types of incidents happened even in Paris Museum which is the most visited Museum in the world.

The portrait of Mona Lisa went missing from the Paris museum and they could not trace it for two years even with their sophisticated technology and security equipment. But that is not an excuse for us. The incident at the National Museum took place while the CCTV cameras were not functioning. We have recovered many of the artifacts which were stolen from the National Museum and we are in the process of identifying them.

To strengthen the security of the museum we have deployed an additional number of security personnel and a police team is patrolling the area every day after 9 pm. We are now having discussions with state owned security firm Rakna Arakshaka Lanka to handover the security of the National Museum to them. In addition to strengthening the security we are also in the process of renovating more than 100 years old roof of the museum.

Q: How do you get the assistance from the international organisations in protecting the national heritage sites?

A: UNESCO is the main organisation assisting and advising us on these issues. In addition we are working with many international universities, expert panels and organisations.

Q: What are the new measures taken to preserve important documents and art works with the National Archives?

A: We have embarked on a project to preserve Sri Lankan films on a request from Dr. Lester James Peries and with the involvement of MP Malini Fonseka. We have allocated a large space of the National Archives building to preserve films. We have space to preserve films for another 25 years. After that we can shift that into a new building. We constructed this section to fulfill the required conditions to preserve the films. Not only films, tele-dramas, musical CDs will also be stored there.