Six World Heritage properties in Malaysia, from Melaka and George Town to Kinabalu Park
Background
UNESCO lists six World Heritage properties in Malaysia: four cultural and two natural.
The cultural properties are Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca; the Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley; the Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park's Caves Complex; and the Forest Research Institute Malaysia Forest Park Selangor.
The two natural properties are Gunung Mulu National Park and Kinabalu Park.
Melaka and George Town are inscribed as a serial property under criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv). UNESCO describes them as having developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West, and as the most complete surviving historic city centres on the Straits of Malacca.
Melaka shows the early stages of that history originating in the Malay sultanate and then Portuguese and Dutch rule, while George Town represents the British era.
Malaysia ratified the World Heritage Convention on 7 December 1988.
In plain words
Serial property Serial property — A single World Heritage listing made up of two or more separate component sites.
Straits of Malacca Straits of Malacca — The narrow sea passage between Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra that links the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea.