DILI, 16 december 2021 (TATOLI) – The Government of Timor-Leste considers it important to increase the production and quality of Timor-Leste’s Tais for the international market after Tais is recognized as an intangible cultural heritage.
this statement was made by the Secretary of State for Arts and Culture (SoSAC), Teófilo Caldas in an interview with Tatoli.
Teófilo Caldas, said that currently, the availability of the Tais in the market is limited, making it very expensive to be purchased by ordinary people as well as for exporting.
“We need to increase the quantity of our Tais for the international market, but we also need to ensure the quality of the product to be sold worldwide. Thus, it takes time for the government to sensitize the communities to increase the production of Tais in the future,” Caldas told TATOLI, at the National Parliament, today.
“We have been promoting our Tais to the world through tourists. You know when we have visitors and tourists coming into the country, we always present Tais as souvenirs, as well as, when our government members traveling overseas, they always bring Tais with them to be given to their counterparts as souvenirs,” Caldas said.
Caldas called on Timorese women to ensure the quality of Tais for the international market.
“Ensuring the quality of Timor-Leste’s Tais is important to compete with other Tais produced by other countries, such as in the Philippines and Indonesia,” he said.
After Tais was recognized as intangible cultural heritage, Caldas said Timor-Leste need to preserve the traditional Timorese weaving.
“I also would like to call on the Timorese women to pass on the traditional Timorese weaving of Tais to the young generation. So that, when they are not around, at least the young generation can at least keep weaving the Tais,” he stressed.
In addition, Caldas also called on farmers to grow more ramie plants to preserve the pure traditional weaving of Tais from Ramie plants and the botanical ink plant: “You know, nowadays, some of the fabrics and inks are imported by Chinese and Indonesians. It poses a threat for us because we may lose our traditional pure cotton in the future.”
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
