Slain migrant worker cremated

BULELENG: The body of Luh Endang Susiani, 31, a Balinese migrant worker killed in the United States in a carjacking gone awry, was cremated Monday in a ritual marked by torrential rain and her family’s public display of grief.

Hundreds of members of the victim’s banjar (traditional neighborhood association) and customary village attended the ritual, which was started in the morning with nyiramang, in which the body was given the last ritualistic bathing by the elders and relatives.

Her parents, Putu Artana and Ni Wayan Sinom, could not hold back their agony when the shroud was opened for nyiramang. They sobbed incessantly as the body was cleansed with water and fragrances.

The body was then covered with new garments and placed on the top of a simple wooden carrier and carried to the Bubunan village cemetery one kilometer away. In the cemetery, her body was placed inside a wooden sarcophagus. Her mother kissed the face of her beloved daughter one last time, while her relatives placed valuables and money inside the sarcophagus as a provision for the deceased’s journey in the afterlife.

As the fire consumed the sarcophagus, Sinom let out her anguish in a long scream. Her husband was more resigned.

“I ask the Indonesian government, our consulate office in the US in particular, to closely monitor the investigation and prosecution related to the murder of our daughter,” he said.

Susiani was killed late April in a carjacking in North Charleston, South Carolina. The local police have detained a suspect, identified as Tyler Brown Kelly, 28.