THERE are provisions under the National Heritage Act 2005 to prosecute those found to have stolen materials from areas gazetted as cultural heritage sites in Malaysian waters. However, failure to gazette shipwreck areas as heritage sites and protect the invaluable relics as official war graves has emboldened illegal salvage operators to continue plundering the items, causing damage and, at times, wiping out the shipwrecks.
The authorities are facing difficulty in prosecuting scavengers, who plunder valuable items from shipwrecks in the country’s waters.
The National Heritage Act provides as follows:
UNDER Section 63(1), the commissioner is of the opinion that any underwater cultural heritage situated in Malaysian waters is of significance, but (if it is) less than 100 years old, he shall advise the minister, who may, by notice, publish in the gazette to declare the site or object an underwater cultural heritage, while Section 63(2) states that any site or object declared to be an underwater cultural heritage shall be listed in the register;
UNDER Section 64(1), the minister may, on the advice of the commissioner, declare in the notice published in the gazette any area within which an underwater cultural heritage is situated to be a protected zone, while Section 64(2) reads that no person shall carry out any activity in the protected zone except with approval in writing from the commissioner, and in Section 64(3), any person who contravenes sub-section (2) commits an offence;
UNDER Section 65(1), no person shall carry out any salvage or excavation work in Malaysian waters for the purpose of finding any underwater cultural heritage except with a licence approved by the commissioner, and anyone who contravenes sub-section (1) commits an offence; and,
UNDER Section 67(1), the minister may, by order published in the gazette, declare any heritage site, heritage object or underwater cultural heritage listed in the register, or living person as a natural heritage.
Cases involving arrests for theft in Malaysian waters:
ON Nov 27 last year, the Royal Malaysian Navy’s KD Perkasa, which was returning to the Tanjung Gelang naval base after a patrol exercise, spotted a foreign vessel near the HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales wreckage sites.
When the vessel was intercepted, 17 Vietnamese crewmen were found on board, while several others were underwater, removing parts from the shipwrecks. The “fishing” vessel had been modified for illegal diving purposes, and none of its crew had identification documents, except the skipper;
ON March 29 this year, the navy’s KD Pahang patrol vessel trailed two trawlers, one of which was flying a Malaysian flag, and fired warning shots before arresting 13 crewmen on board the trawlers.
The crew, aged between 15 and 47, were charged under Section 16 of the Fisheries Act 1985 for failing to notify the marine director about their activity in Malaysian waters. They are serving their jail terms; and,
ON Aug 22 this year, a group of Vietnamese crewmen was caught red-handed for diving near sunken wrecks to salvage scrap metal.
The 20 crewmen, who did not possess identification papers, were detained. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency seized diving equipment, an iron cutter and a crane believed to be used to lift metal components from the seabed.