Bai Ra Medideriik (House of Empty)

By Santy Asanuma

An impressive ancient Bai once stood in the north of Palau but it was screamingly clear that it was not being used at all. Nobody showed up at the bai and no activity really took place inside this particular bai to earn the obvious name and its widespread reputation of being empty. Even primitive Palauans had some sense on the return of resources being invested in relation to the frequency of its usage. This expectation is still the same in Wall Street world of investment today. In this thinking, people whether in the ancient past or modern finance centers of the world today are held responsible to take care of resources (money, materials, food).

Chosm Er A Itekokongei (Tree of Yes)

By Santy Asanuma

This is a skill even considered as a gift of a certain lineage in Palau for securing a yes or positive answer from the other party they are pursuing. Mostly it was used in getting approvals for romantic proposals. After short research only the very old and few members of the Palau Society of Historians still recall this adage which was usually used for good cause and luck. I heard it as a young boy and it has always stayed in my memory. The fact that this ancient saying, “Chosm Er A Itekokongei,” implied that all will be okay and in our favor made it very appealing to me. This was a valuable gift once a upon a time because Palauans are known to be unimpressionable (ng diak el beot el bo le mechas a rengrir) and not easily convinced to follow other people.

Festival of Dangerous Ideas (US vs. Compact Islands)

By Santy Asanuma

Palauans do not take ideas well. Ideas as simple as one may think are what fuel life to move forward.  Without ideas life as we know it may not have any sense or direction to it. A “mechas” once told me her assessment of our modern government system, “don’t underestimate the power of a stupid person because he/she can vote for leaders of a country.” This statement means many things to me but one meaning is that ideas can come from anyone regardless of how educated or not. Today a priest in church said, “if you want to be first you have to serve others…you have to lower yourself.” Not an easy idea to follow though.

Gabriela Lives On for Freedom

By Santy Asanuma

In 1996 I saw the South Pacific “down under” as it commonly referred to for the first time. Being identified as a community activist by raising social consciousness in my “Whatanow” Column, I was privileged to be invited to attend a CEPAC CCJD conference in Melbourne, Australia to address regional issues on social injustice. As a conference for Catholic bishops of the Pacific and Asia, the main attendants were bishops. This was holier experience than I will ever come close to in this lifetime. While dinning with the bishops one night, we were served fried ice cream an unlikely combination and a first experience for most of us.

Bulekngii A Meuiko El Redil

By Santy Asanuma

Because of our culture, Palauans tend to be concrete thinkers meaning that they only think of what they can see. There are not much to say about blindness or special recognition of those who lost their sight in our legends and stories. This is greatly assigned to the fact that Palauan knowledge seldom has names or references to abstract things or ideas. The Palauan language is very pictorial which requires physical description to be understood. This is the main reason why most Palauan attorneys, if not all of them, prefer to work with the English language in court because it has names for technical ideas or things.

Merikel Ka Mdidichak

By Santy Asanuma

A Palauan society was far more structured and sophisticated before the westerners lost their way in the vast Pacific Ocean and stumbled onto our shores. This sense of communal order was based on the fact that people knew their place in society. But today most Palauan people, if not all, are stunned or repulsed by this beautiful and practical Palauan tradition. Omelidiich has been widely misrepresented and misunderstood and now taken to mean to pull ranks or shame people especially in public. This is far from the truth and the purpose of this tradition. Ka mdidichak is an acceptable Palauan practice as old as the culture to set the record straight on the origin and family tree (ke mla re ker e mei er tia el kebliil malechub e ng beluu) of any member of the community.

Ngerulmud Let Me Be Free

By Santy

With loud gun shots and bombs, democracy fought its way into Palau almost at the same time when the Americans beat the Japanese during the deadly WWII. From talking with old people, it would be safe to say that Palauans were very fearful and not willing participants of democracy as we would want to believe. They just quietly accepted and followed what they were told by their American administrators as they did with the Spaniard Christianity, German industrialization, and the Japanese indoctrination. At best they were quiet participants of democracy not fully knowing its precepts (techel a tekoi ma ikel osisecheklel).

Chengal a Beluu

By Santy Asanuma

The reason why Palau is going through so many problems today is because it has lost its “chengal.” Call it spiritual or superstition but islanders believe that there is a force (chengal a beluu) that makes their village holy and provide protection against any imaginable bad things that can make life miserable. There used to be a belief that one cannot make too much noise disturbance in Ngerkesaol because an invisible hand will knock out the trouble maker cold in a seizure. This sounds silly to many young people today but was scary enough once upon a time in the past to enable Ngerkesaol to maintain its harmony and sense of order. It makes sense when community has control over its youth and all of its elements.

A Reng A Klalo

By Santy

An old man related to me a scenario where another known resourceful artisan (dachelbai el chad) upon finding a group of a young able men sitting around and telling stories at the village dock looked at the ideal low tide and say to the young men, “a reng a klalo.” This saying which in literal terms means the heart is a material possession. It is quite possible that many Palauans even in their 40’s and under today have no clue what this saying is all about even though it defines the Palauan-ness as much as a part of the Palauan pride. This principle or standard is used to measure who is a contributing member of community because he has useful skills or desirable qualities.

Malekebliil Multiple Personality Senate

By Santy Asanuma

A malekebeliil a tunga ra bai. Malekebeliil is a behavioral description of a rooster that is proudest and crows the loudest on his home turf (a le ngara blil) but would wane down (tmuchel a chubel) in the slightest face of opposition when away from the comfort of his home. It is only befitting (ngara ungil el urebetelel) because Palauan thinking and cultural teaching is that your ways and behavior at home should not be displayed in public or be imposed on other people.