ABSTRACT
Protection of culture in Indonesia is an exciting issue nowadays. It is often associated with cultural disputes between Indonesia and other countries such as Malaysia. The rise of Indonesian culture which claimed ownership or used by other parties without legitimacy (misappropriation) became the reason for the importance of legal protection of Indonesian culture.
Moreover, it is important to protect the Indonesian culture because Indonesia is a country that has various cultures, especially when related to much income from the culture-based tourism sector. UNESCO, through the World Heritage Center, has carried out legal protection efforts on Indonesian culture by conducting an inventory and documentation of culture.
Inventory and documentation of cultures from Indonesia into World Cultural Heritage are one of the defensive legal protection efforts for culture from Indonesia, where preventive protection aims to prevent disputes. The attempt to register Indonesian culture into a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO is an attempt to avoid Indonesian cultures so that foreign countries will not recognize the ownership without permission.
Up to 2018, Indonesian culture which has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage is 10, consisting of Wayang Kulit, Keris, Angklung, Gamelan, Batik, Noken, Subak, Sekaten, Saman Dance, and Lumpia.
Inventory and documentation efforts carried out by UNESCO through the World Heritage Center are following the principles of Indonesian cultural regulation. It is stipulated in Act Number 28 of 2014 concerning Copyright, mainly Article 38 which regulates the Expression of Traditional Culture. It is also mentioned in Act Number 15 of 2017 concerning the Advancement of Culture in which the state must undertake efforts to manage and protect Indonesian culture by conducting an inventory and documentation.
