ADDRESS BY
Y. BHG. DATO' HABIBAH ZON
DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF MALAYSIA
AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY OF THE FOURTH
SEAPAVAA CONFERENCE AND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
"AV ARCHIVING IN THE NEW MILLENIUM: WORKING
TOGETHER TO PRESERVE OUR HERITAGE"
19 APRIL 1999

Y.B. Dato" Sabbaruddin Chik
Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism,

Y.B. Dato' Mohd. Noh Rajab
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism

Y.M. Dato' Tengku Alauddin Tengku Abd. Majid,
Deputy Secretary General to the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism

Mr. Ray Edmondson,
President of the South East Asia-Pacific Audio Visual
Archive Association

His Excellencies,

Resource Persons

Honourable Guests and Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Assalamualaikum and a very good morning,

On behalf of the National Archives of Malaysia, it is my utmost pleasure and privilege to extend a warm welcome and Selamat Datang to the distinguished guests and participants at the symposium "AV Archiving in the New Millenium: Working Together to Preserve Our Heritage". It is indeed a great honour for us to have been selected by SEAPAVAA to jointly organise the 4th SEAPAVAA Conference and General Assembly. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to Y.B. Dato' Sri Sabbaruddin Chik, Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism for kindly consenting to officiate at the opening of the symposium this morning. My sincere thanks and gratitude are also due to the foreign and local experts for their active role in the symposium.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Archival institutions have been in existence for a thousand years and more. Archivists have always sought to preserve for future generations some form of evidence about their countries' achievements, aspirations, victories and defeats. From the early written records we can get a glimpse of what our past society was like. However, audio visual archives leave a greater and more lasting impression on our minds than what we read from written documents.


Ladies and Gentlemen,

Audio visual materials include all forms of sound and film material which are recorded digitally, magnetically or optically. These include film strips, microfilms, slides, magnetic tapes, kinescopes, videograms as well as sound recordings in the form of discs and cassettes. The vast difference in audio visual formats constitutes a real challenge to archivists who need to come to grips with a number of problems such as storage, preservation and access.

Unlike the conventional records audio visual materials have both a visual and sound component and evaluation should be carried out according to certain procedures. Audio visual materials are very fragile in nature and need traditional care compared to written and printed documents.

Sound quality can also deteriorate rapidly with a high rate of use.


Ladies and Gentlemen,

Many countries, including even the most developed, have enormous gaps in their collection of audio visual materials. Countries in this region also face the same problem. This symposium is therefore aimed at addressing the need to acquire and manage audio-visual materials for permanent preservation. Unless each country in this region acquires and preserves its own audio-visual materials, a part of its history and culture may well disappear and their collection contribution to the civilization of these countries may be forgotten. Needless to say, audio-visual materials constitute an integral part of a country's cultural heritage and need as such to be acquired and preserved carefully.



Ladies and Gentlemen,

Archival institutions today stand in a critical position in relation to the technological revolution of our times. Despite the changes, I must emphasize however, that the basic goals and objectives of these institutions remain the same. It is clearly the responsibility of archival institutions to ensure that the sources of information which include audio-visual archives are properly acquired, preserved and made available to research scholars. It is appropriate that this symposium is held in accordance with the objectives of SEAPAVAA to develop regional expertise in the preservation of audio-visual material in due recognition of the need for a series of high level professional symposia to be organized on the preservation of audio-visual materials.


Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope that you will learn from one another by sharing your experiences and knowledge in a friendly atmosphere in the spirit and tradition prevailing in this region. To our foreign resource persons and delegates, I hope that you will enjoy your stay in this country and bring back fond memories of Malaysia, its people, culture and not forgetting the National Archives of Malaysia. Not to forget, I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude and thanks to the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism for its support, Radio Television Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak Institute of Broadcasting (IPTAR), National Film Development Corporation (FINAS), Filem Negara, Secretariat of International Conferences, Prime Minister's Department, Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, the press, and all others who have contributed,in one way or another, to make this conference a reality. To all the participants gathered here this morning, may I wish you a successful symposium.

Thank you and Terima Kasih.