ASEAN museums to promote culture & heritage worldwide
By Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 03 July 2007 1714 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Bringing ASEAN museums together – that is the aim of Singapore's National Heritage Board (NHB), which has organised the first ever ASEAN Museum Directors Symposium.

At the symposium, museum leaders from the region are discussing possibilities of combining their strengths to promote ASEAN culture and heritage worldwide.

The NHB has also announced it will embark on Integrated ASEAN Programming for various Singapore museums over the next three years.

"There are many stories that we can tell together and bring to the world, the global community, to let them know more about ASEAN's culture and heritage," said Michael Koh, CEO, National Heritage Board, Singapore.

"We must work together. We cannot work alone because our country is too small... So if we work together, we [would] become bigger and we [would] have so many kinds of heritage we can introduce to the world," said Dr Saharudin Haji Ismail, Director-General, National Art Gallery, Malaysia.

"This forum will go a long way in informing one another about trends... sharing is not only of information but of techniques in museum communication, conservation and other aspects of museum work," said Corazon Alvina, Director, National Museum, the Philippines.

Museums can also serve as gateways to foster peace and harmony.

"There is a greater need than ever before to forge closer and stronger cross-cultural respect and understanding. Our museums have important roles to play in fostering awareness of our history and cultural identity as well as promote racial and religious harmony," said Dr Lee Boon Yang, Information, Communications & the Arts Minister.

The symposium ends on 4 July. - CNA/yy