The 14th ASEAN-Japan Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting held at the ASEAN Secretariat today underscored the commitment of both sides to further advance their partnership. The meeting welcomed the progress in realising the Implementation Plan of the 2013 Vision Statement on ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. Approximately 95% of the action lines under the Plan have been addressed.

The meeting discussed ways to implement the Joint Statement of the 22nd ASEAN-Japan Summit on Connectivity adopted in November last year and welcomed initiatives from both sides to enhance the regional connectivity. ASEAN appreciated Japan’s continued support for ASEAN’s development including its contribution to the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund. Priorities in 2020 would be given to supporting programmes and projects in the areas of maritime cooperation, connectivity, UN Sustainable Development Goals, economic and other areas such as digital economy, MSMEs, disaster management.

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On February 27, the launch of ACHDA website was announced at the ASEAN Cultural Heritage Digital Archive Concluding Forum held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.

ACHDA website: https://heritage.asean.org/

ACHDA project aims to support the digitalization of ASEAN’s rich and diverse cultural heritages by setting up an online portal for wider public access. The Government of Japan supports this project through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). The phase 1 of this project which started in December 2018 has digitalized cultural heritages in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Attendees to the forum included H.E. CHIBA Akira, Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN, H.E. Kung Phoak, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, Mr. Anato Kusuma Seta, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia and Mr. Tsuchihashi Ken, President and CEO of NTT DATA Asia Pacific. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Chiba stated that it was his pleasure to see the advanced Japanese technology by NTT DATA playing an indispensable role to launch this project, and he hoped the ACHDA Website would enhance interest in ASEAN culture by the people in ASEAN and the world.

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Southeast Asia's museums, galleries and libraries are preserving their most fragile collection items using 3D data technology, making them available online for anyone who wants to take a close look. Anyone can visit the website, browse the items, and zoom in and turn the 3D items around to various angles. Items currently in the archive come from six institutions in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, including the National Museum of Indonesia and the National Library of Thailand.

"I hope ASEAN citizens using the website will better appreciate the shared cultural heritage and instill in them a greater regional sense of belonging," said Deputy-Secretary General of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Kung Phoak. Digitization contributes to the preservation of old, fragile items which represent valuable cultural heritage, said Katsuichi Sonoda, senior vice president of Japanese multinational system integration company NTT Data.

NTT Data, with the generous support of the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), has provided its Advanced Museum Library Archives Deposit (AMLAD) system for digital archiving, which has been used for other facilities such as the Vatican Library. NTT Data said this was the first time it had provided a 3D archiving function.

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Digitization is one way to make cultural heritage a legacy for the future generations, according to NTT Data Asia Pacific chief executive Ken Tsuchihashi. NTT Data is the Japanese tech company behind the digital archiving of many of the world's cultural assets, including the recently launched Asean Cultural Heritage Digital Archive (ACHDA) with support of the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).

Cultural heritage relics are known for being extremely susceptible to natural or man-made disasters or degradation. Often, restorations are carried out from time to time with hopes that the asset in hand can return to its original state. On the ACHDA, the smallest objects submitted were Malaysian 16th-century gold coins with a diameter of 1 centimeter. One of them was the gold coin used in the reign of Sultan Alau'uddin Riayat Shah. Meanwhile, the largest object to date is the Paris Clock submitted by the National Library of Thailand with a height of 202.5 meters. The clock is adorned with golden carvings of the clash between lightning goddess Mekhala and thunder god Ramansura.

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The first digital archive of the valuable historical cultural heritage of ASEAN Member States (AMS) was launched today. The ASEAN Cultural Heritage Digital Archive (ACHDA) website showcases over 160 digitised heritage items from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The website allows visitors to have an in-depth look into the collections of museums, galleries, and libraries through three-dimensional (3D) models, images, audio recordings and valuable videos of cultural heritage of the three countries participating in the project’s first phase.

The project is supported by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). Japan Ambassador to ASEAN Akira Chiba further mentioned that “anyone can access many cultural heritage easily and instantly through this ACHDA website anytime and anywhere.” The first phase of the project began in 2018 and the second phase, scheduled to start in mid-2020, will digitise collections from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam. All the AMS will be covered by the project in succeeding years.

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