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ASIA / PACIFIC Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER August 3, 2015 Ancestors reburied after remains found during construction By Gaynor Dumat-Ol Daleno Pacific Daily News AGATNA, Guam (AP) — Jeremy Cepeda recently sang and recited Chamorro words soulfully in front of a small group in a part of Inarajan that has kept much of its greenery, away from a home or building. Members of the group who gathered in front of him sat still, careful not to disrupt the solemnity, according to the Pacific Daily News. One of Guam’s Chamorro oral history speakers, Cepeda’s song and chant were part of a traditional ceremony to rebury the remains of about 10 Guam ancestors who lived in the 1300s. Cepeda also placed a few stems of orange flowers, locally called niyoron, which were the more traditional material for leis or garlands before modern plumerias became the preferred local flower, he said. He also offered betel nuts and leaves on the ground, next to the memorial marker for the ances- tors. The remains were discovered in 2010 during the construction for the road leading to the Layon landfill. The remains were reburied in a crypt with a memorial marker H HONORING ANCIENT ANCESTORS. Jeremy Cepeda (left photo), of the I Fanlalai’an oral history project, plants a ceremonial niyoron, or orange blossom, at the Dandan Reburial Memorial in Inarajan, Guam. The remains of approximately 10 ancient Chamorros were laid to rest after being discovered during a road-widening project in 2010. Pictured at right are members of the community carrying ceremonial coffins at the memorial. (Mark Scott/Pacific Daily News via AP) less than half a mile from where they were originally laid to rest. The ancestors’ remains were intact enough to leave some clues of how they lived. The adults had betel nut stains in their teeth, their homes had quarried stone columns, there were potteries, and they lived near a river not close to the shore. Of the 10 remains, five were young adults between 17 and 35 years old, and there was one infant, who lived until about two months old, according to what archeologists found. The early Guam ancestors had a hard life, said David DeFant, an archeologist and principal investigator for Search Inc., a company that worked on the retrieval and documentation of the remains. The adults were very muscular because of the physical toll on their bodies as they practiced early farming and food-hunting. Due to their harsh living conditions, Guam’s ancestors from centuries ago didn’t live long lives, DeFant said. Part of what Cepeda was saying in Chamorro during the ceremony, he said, “was to apologize to our ancestors about having to move them.” “The recitation was also to remind us that it doesn’t matter where we go; that we stand on the bones of our elders,” he said. Inarajan mayor Doris Flores Lujan said she was pleased with the way the remains of the ances- tors were properly reburied. Other ancestral remains have been found over the past several years, including some during the reconstruction of the Ylig Bridge and the rebuilding of the Hagatna Bridge. Some of the other remains discovered in the past several years have yet to be properly reburied. DeFant and archeologist Lynn Leon Guerrero said the last reburial ceremony they can recall, up until the recent ceremony, was the reburial of remains that were found at the Fiesta Resort Hotel construction site almost a decade ago. Speaker Judith Won Pat and representatives of GHD, the company that was hired in part to oversee the landfill project and management, were there, too. GHD helped provide logistics for the reburial, in coordination with the Guam Historic Preservation Office and other agencies, such as the Guam Visitors Bureau. Jolie film to pay tribute to land of her son Maddox By Sopheng Cheang The Associated Press HNOM PENH, Cambo- dia — Cambodia helped Angelina Jolie become a film superstar and start a family. To tell the stories of people in the country that touched her, she is directing a Netflix film on location based on a memoir of the country’s 1970s holocaust under the communist Khmer Rouge, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people. And her Cambodia-born son Maddox will help with research and preparation for the film, Jolie said in an e-mail interview with The Associated Press. Jolie’s 2001 hit, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, was filmed partly at Cambodia’s famous Angkor Wat temple complex, and in 2002 she adopted seven-month-old Maddox from an orphanage in western Cambodia. Determined to give something back, she launched a foundation in Cambodia 12 years ago to promote community develop- ment alongside conservation. In July she visited some of the projects of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which focuses on programs “to help local families overcome problems associated with poverty in the region and to help preserve the remarkable habitat and wildlife for future generations,” she said. She’s slated to begin filming in November on the Netflix project, an adaptation of First they Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, author Loung Ung’s memoir of her childhood during the Khmer Rouge regime. Jolie recently directed the Louis Zamperini biopic Unbroken and is in P HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO HIGHEST OFFICE. Tri-services personnel carry the body of former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Mandapam Helipad in Rameswaram, India. Kalam, known as the father of the country’s military missile program, died after collapsing while delivering a lecture. He was 83 years old. (R Senthil Kumar/ Press Trust of India via AP) Former President Kalam buried in southern India NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of people gathered in the southern Indian town of Rameswaram for the burial of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, known as the father of the country’s missile program. His body, carried in a glass topped hearse, was driven from his home in the tiny fishing town to the cemetery where he had wanted to be buried. Kalam, 83, died after collapsing during a lecture to a group of management students in northeast India’s Shillong city. People, some carrying flowers, lined the streets as the hearse drove through the town. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and scores of other senior government officials were present at the funeral. Kalam was president from 2002 until 2007. He was a scientist and science administrator for four decades and was widely known for his involvement in pioneering India’s nuclear and missile programs. For many, it was his education role that inspired them the most. Shakira Bano, a teacher in Rameswaram, told the NDTV news channel that the former president had been a huge inspiration to her and many others in his hometown. Through his time in office and after his term ended, Kalam wrote several books, mostly aimed at inspiring students. After his term, he travelled extensively to schools and colleges across India. Kalam received several prestigious awards, including Bharat Ratna, India’s top civil honor conferred by the government. Kalam rose to India’s highest office from humble beginnings. His father owned boats, which he rented out to fishermen. post-production on the drama By the Sea, in which she also acts alongside her husband, Brad Pitt. During her visit to Cambodia, Jolie agreed to answer a few e-mailed questions from The Associated Press. Here is an edited version of the exchange: AP: Do you feel a political/ social responsibility to tell the stories of Cambodia, since Maddox is from there? Jolie: I feel a deep connection to Cambodia. I want to respect its history and bring a film to the world that will not only show the hardships of war but the dignity and resilience of a people I deeply respect. As Maddox and I prepare the film we will be side by side learning about his country. He is turning 14 … and this is a very important time for him to understand who he is. He is my son, but he is also a son of Cambodia. This is the time for our family to understand all that that means to him and to us. My desire to tell this story in the most truthful and accurate way possible will be my tribute to the strength and dignity of all Cambodian people. AP: There are so many grue- some stories of people who lived through the horror of the Khmer Rouge. What about this parti- cular story do you feel needs to be told on the big screen? Jolie: The intent of this project is not to revisit the horrors of the war but to bring to the screen characters that people around the world will empathize with, and to help other people to learn about Cambodia. What is special about this particular story is that it is told from the perspective of a five- year-old child, and is based on a child’s emotional experience of war. It sheds light not only on the experience of children during the genocide in Cambodia but of all children who endure war. AP: Will Maddox be involved with the film/production? Jolie: Maddox will be on set every day after school and involved behind the scenes. And yes, Maddox is already involved in the foundation and will take over my role when he is older. Jolie was in the capital of Phnom Penh doing research at the Bophana Center, an audiovisual archive co-founded by Rithy Pan, an acclaimed Cambodian documentary filmmaker whose work has focused on the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge, and who will help with the Netflix project, which will be done in the Khmer language. “We will be spending the next few months scouting for locations, casting the film, but most importantly researching every event to make sure it is historically accurate and will pay respect not only to Loung Ung and her family, but to every single individual who suffered under the Khmer Rouge,” Jolie said during a speech at the cen- ter, which distributed the text. “The book is a guide to one young girl’s story, and we will complete the story drawing on the experiences of others and adding them to the film. Through her story we will be telling many stories, so that the film is not just based on the memory of one child, but on the collective memory of the people of Cambodia.” Associated Press writers Angela Chen in Hong Kong and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
