Folk dance in Thai South to be proposed as world cultural heritage

BANGKOK, March 13 (TNA) - The Thai Cabinet has approved a plan on proposing to UNESCO a folk dance of the country's southern region to be a world intangible cultural heritage. Assistant Government Spokesman Colonel Athisit Chainuwat told journalists that the Thai Cabinet made the decision, as proposed by the Ministry of Culture, at its weekly meeting at Bangkok's Government House on March 12. The assistant spokesman said under the approved plan, the Thai Ministry of Culture will submit a written statement to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by the end of this month, proposing the "Nora", or the "Nora" dance drama Thailand, or the "Nora" dance drama southern Thailand, that has been developed and played by all concerned communities, groups and individual folks in four southern provinces of Phattalung, Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla to be an intangible cultural heritage of the world humanity. The assistant spokesman stated that the new Thai proposal is aimed to not only conserve and sustain the country's intangible cultural heritage in a globally-recognized established status, but also promote international cooperation. Besides, the new move shows Thailand's appreciation to ethnic folks, groups and communities and honor in their traditional wisdom internationally. According to the assistant spokesman, UNESCO has earlier registered Thailand's classic masked play enacting scenes from the Ramayana, named "Khon", on its world intangible cultural heritage list, as proposed by the Ministry of Culture, and is expected to register the traditional Thai massage on the same list in the near future. (TNA)