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.