The development of legal protection for underwater cultural heritage in
Malaysia has been painfully slow. Although the realisation of the need to
protect this endangered heritage from human interferences went as far
back as the 1980s, it is the legal debates at UNESCO (1996- 2001), which
have had a profound effect on the status of maritime archaeology in
Malaysia as seen today. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of
the Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001 (2001 UNESCO Convention) was
adopted to amplify the basic legal regime provided by the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (1982 UNCLOS).
Although many of the problems have been addressed with the adoption
of the 2001 UNESCO Convention, certain issues remain unclear,
compounded by the lack of support by certain major maritime States.The objective of this thesis is two -fold. First, it seeks to examine the main
features and substantive aspects of the 2001 UNESCO Convention and to
make recommendations concerning Malaysia's ratification of the
Convention. Secondly, this thesis will examine the present domestic
legal framework protecting the underwater cultural heritage in
Malaysia. Various international treaties, draft convention reports,
legislation, cases, legal commentaries and other documents were studied
for this purpose. This thesis also surveys the views of certain key
government officials, archaeologists and private salvage companies in
Malaysia.The writing of this thesis is divided into six main chapters. Chapter I
gives an account of the socio- economic and the legal antecedents leading
to the adoption of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on 2nd November 2001.
Chapter II explores the core issues underpinning the Convention from a
Malaysian perspective, a country rich with potential for discovery of the
underwater cultural heritage but still at its infancy in underwater
maritime archaeology. This chapter is then followed by Chapter III,
which looks at the organisational aspects of heritage management in
Malaysia. Chapters IV and V examine the present legal framework in
Malaysia affecting the protection of its underwater cultural heritage.
Chapter VI concludes the thesis with findings and recommendations
