Back from ‘Hibernation’

Yes, I’m back (I don’t suppose anybody miss my ranting here anyway?). After another horrible ‘hiatus’, something that is supposed to be familiar with most blogger, this is the latest post for 2012. And I think there is no better way to make a comeback than with a good compiled bulk of information.

So let us start this over with a rather interesting announcement: the BETA UFO Compiled Sightings Review report for 2011 is finally finished and available for reading here. 

Belated Obituary - R.J. Salatun

This is a shamefully belated obituary to the pioneer of Indonesian Ufology, J. Salatun. I can’t believe I didn’t try harder to spare time making this post earlier. Anyway, here I am now and hopefully this late posting will still be able to provide useful information for those who might not know of the event yet.

News of R.J. Salatun’s death in KOMPAS national newspaper

The first information received by BETA UFO through its mailing list group was from a member who actually forwarded the news of J. Salatun’s death from another mailing list named after the national Air Force’s old abbreviation (AURI).

Raden Jacob Salatun

Vice Air-Marshall (Ret.) Raden Jacob Salatun (R.J. Salatun), reportedly passed away on Friday 3 February 2012 in Jakarta, at the age of 84 years old, after suffering from a complication of stroke and diabetes. The former founder and first chairman of the National Space and Aviation Agency (LAPAN) had been hospitalized since 17 December 2011 prior to the formal announcement of his passing away by his eldest son, Adi Sadewo Salatun.

“Ke Udara”, a pioneering book on aviation written by R.J. Salatun in 1950

Serving 38 years in the national air force, R.J. Salatun was given a formal military burial held on 4 February 2012 at the Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery, Jakarta, leaving behind his wife and a family of 5 children, 12 grand children and 2 great-grandchildren.

As revealed in Salatun’s tribute page here, the man is not only noted for his pioneering work in the national air force (TNI AU), particularly in the development of military aerospace (airplane design and rocketry) programs, but also for his active promotion of a localized and scientific approach to the UFO phenomena since the 1950s.

The cover of "Ke Udara", a pioneering book on aviation written by R.J. Salatun in 1950

Following the pioneer’s passing away, BETA UFO (through Bayu Amus, the current chairman) has published an open letter of condolences to the family, which I think best reflect the lost felt by many researchers of the UFO phenomenon in Indonesia:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Family members of the late Raden Jacob Salatun

As supporters of the study of UFO phenomena in Indonesia affiliated with the BETA-UFO Indonesia group, we would like to hereby extend our condolences for the passing away of Raden Jacob Salatun, which we have always hold in high esteem as the figurehead of Indonesian Ufology studies.

His contribution is immense in terms of developing the world of aviation in Indonesia and in pioneering the study of Ufology, which has in turn assisted those intrigued by the phenomena to research it more deeply. It was also in respect of his pioneering effort that we choose the name “BETA” for our own group, which Raden Jacob Salatun coined as the Indonesian language term for UFO.

We hope that God will grant Raden Jacob Salatun a place of comfort by His side for all the contributions that the man has made during the course of his life, and to grant the family left behind strength and perseverance in facing the ordeal.

We as supporters of UFO studies in Indonesia will always remember the late Raden Jacob Salatun for his contributions, and continue the study of UFO phenomena in Indonesia that he has pionereed.

His name will always be remembered dearly in our heart as the father of Indonesian Ufology.

Denpasar, 8 February 2012

Sincerely yours,

Bayu Amus

Director

BETA-UFO Indonesia

A 2011 flap in Indonesia?

I suppose anyone who has ever read enough materials on Ufology would know what the term ‘flap’ means. My own understanding of it is that it refers to a highly intensified number of UFO sightings within a certain period of time and geographical boundary. Bearing that in mind, I almost did believe that there was a flap in Indonesia last year.

Almost? Yes, almost. Simply for the sheer increase in submitted reports coming in through the BETA UFO website that registered over 100 sighting reports across the country.

An example of photographs sent to BETA UFO in 2011

To give you an idea of how many reports BETA UFO actually get in 2011, the aforementioned number has already been separated from dozens of other reports of past sightings going as far back as the 1980s.

Another example of photographs sent to BETA UFO in 2011

All in all, the increase in reported cases doesn’t denote a real flap, as many of the report are also hard to cross-check, but it does highlight an ever increasing sensitivity to the issue of UFOs in the country. An issue that has hitherto been treated as a matter of occult/magic rather than anything pertaining to any form of unknown technology.

As the annual report is still being processed, one thing that can be assured regarding any significant pattern emerging from it all, is the fact that more and more people across the country are paying attention to any uncanny phenomena in the skies.

The Shanghai April Sighting – Part 2

The following are screen shots of the two unidentified objects spotted and video recorded in the skies above Shanghai, China on April 24 2010.

The Shanghai April Sighting – Part 1

This is one case that almost got drowned in the multitude of case reports coming into the BETA UFO network back in 2010. I suspect that the scant attention it received also has to do with the fact that it was a sighting case that took place in another country. In addition, the case was also reported through BETA UFO’s online testimonial channel that was pretty dull to ever attract much attention back then.

Coming onto the case, the report was filed by an Indonesian guy that was on holiday in China, back in April 2010. The sighting took place on April 24, at around 8:55 PM, as the witness and several other tourists were queuing for a bus taking them to a hotel in Shanghai. It was at this moment that he then noticed 2 strange objects high up in the clear, cloudless sky and start filming them with his hand held video recorder (see the video below).

According to the witness, he decided not to publish the video recording due to fear of censorship (or worst) by the Chinese government. He also considered the fact that the Shanghai Expo was just about to be opened in 5 days and that therefore the 2 objects he saw might just be promotional blimps for the event. When news of UFO sighting in Hangzhou appeared in July he then decided to publish the video and inform BETA UFO of his strange experience.

Updates on The October 24th Sighting

The October 24th sighting in Tangerang Regency, Banten Province (practically a suburb of the Greater Jakarta area) intrigued me so much that I decided to contact the photographer/witness. His explanation seemed to shed some lights on what the objects might have been.

Firstly, he admitted of shaking his hands quite a lot while making the photographs. The fuzziness of the lights in the photographs was therefore not due to of any kind of maneuvers from the objects themselves. They just flew by in the sky.

Secondly, he also admitted that the objects look more like light spots. In fact, the man pointed to one of the photos in my older posts (Photographic evidence cases from 2008) as something that resembled what he saw that night. Strange thing is, he hasn’t yet confirmed exactly which photo he is referring to. My assumption is it’s this photo below (Taken in Jakarta, showing -according to the photographer- four blinking lights that basically 'hung motionless' in the sky).

Now that photo above is definitely no Chinese lantern. However, I have also found a Youtube video (watch below) -courtesy of a friend's sharp eye- that showed orange lights passing through the sky (I think it was in Lincoln, U.K.) almost the same as the objects photographed in Tangerang on October 24th. They looked quite similar, especially with the shaky hands of the video grapher. More importantly are the comments that people give for the video – that the objects are nothing more than Chinese lanterns.

Case closed? Probably so…, don't you think?

Lens Flare and the Media Hype

June 2010 also saw a rather interesting 'thread' in the BETA UFO mailing list. This time it was taken from another thread on one of the country's 'biggest' online forum, Kaskus. A member of the said forum uploaded two photographs allegedly taken on June 12 at the newly built Suramadu bridge, that connect the city of Surabaya with the island of Madura. In the photos, are seen several 'UFO-like' shapes in the sky near the bridge which -according to the photographer- were not seen before the photographs were taken. The original photos themselves were not very clear until another forum member helped to 'emphasize' the objects in question as can be seen below.

The photos has since attracted quite a lot of attention, particularly on the grounds of the photographer's belief that he those objects are indeed UFO, and sparked a lot of discussion both on the original Kaskus forum as well as in BETA UFO's mailing-list. One of the primary conclusion reached in the BETA UFO discussions is that the photo is nothing more than a lens flare effect.

Strangely enough, the photo then sparked the media's ongoing interest and hype over anything 'mysterious' or 'uncanny'. BETA UFO was contacted to state its conclusion on the said photos in August, for a Jakarta-based TV station's afternoon program. Guess what? Not long after that, someone finally came to the Kaskus forum to show, with two very clear photos seen below, that it is INDEED a simple lens flare effect.

I guess the interest on UFO's has indeed grown by leaps and bounds in the country, but the media's 'warped' approach to it all (most interest in the UFO-related phenomena are currently shown by celebrity gossip programs, for crying out loud) hardly promised a better understanding of the phenomena.

The Oldest UFO Photograph in Indonesia?

BETA UFO researcher and former chairman, Nur Agustinus contacted me about this intriguing photograph that he seemed to have found October last year. I have since been unable to verify the possibility of it being a genuine UFO photograph as those I have contacted –with presumably better understanding of photographic analysis- has never replied to my query. The object in question is the small, oval-shaped speck somewhat halfway to the center of the photograph.

If it is indeed so, then this photograph, which was shot in 1935 during the emplacement of the Dutch colonial administration’s state railway to Padang city, West Sumatra and found as part of a collection of old Indonesian photographs owned by KITLV, is definitely the oldest UFO photograph to date in the country.

The KITLV data showed that the photo was part of a collection of photographs which are featured in a book titled “Stations and Bridges in Sumatra: 1876-1941” by Michiel de Jong Ballegoijen that was published in Amsterdam in 2001. The photo itself was originally part of an album presented to C.L. de Voogt at his departure as head of the Dutch East Indies’ State Railways Operation in Sumatra's west coast, from April 1933 to August 1935. More data could be seen in the KITLV document entry of the said photograph presented below (google translated from Dutch to English).

Dutch to English translation

Collection: KITLV

Description / Description: Emplacement of the State Railways to Padang in

Sumatra's West Coast

Signature / Image Code: 52711

Album Number / Album Number: 610

Detailed Description / Detailed description: Left behind the station

Keyword / Keyword: Padang, railway stations, railways

Format / Size: 12x17cm

Physical form / Property type: Photo

Date / Date: 1935

Specialties / Additional: stations and bridges in Sumatra: 1876-1941 / by Michiel

de Jong Ballegoijen. - Amsterdam, 2001 Album presented to ir C.L. de Voogt at his

departure as head of the State Railways in Operation Sumatra's west coast from

April 1933 to August 1935

Collection / Collection: Ball, F.H.J.

Origin / Provenance: Ball, F.H.J.

Strange Aerial Phenomena in Kendari

On Wednesday, June 2nd 2010, the Indonesian mainstream media was once again hyped-up with another possible UFO sighting news. This time, the news comes from the city of Kendari, in South East Sulawesi. As reported first by Okezone.com on Friday (05/06) a group of Kendari's Number 9 Public Junior High School students saw and videotaped (using a mobile phone) a strange aerial phenomena in the center of the sun, as can be seen on the photograph below.

The full video recording can be seen here, in the link provided by BETA UFO.



Some, including researchers in BETA UFO, believed that this may very well be a deliberate hoax or a simple 'Black Sun' effect that can occur with certain image filtering mechanisms.

Indonesian Ufology Timeline – Part 2 (1971 – 1979)

This is the second part of the Indonesian ufology timeline articles that I have started back in May. As can be seen many details are added to expand the original timeline featured in the BETA UFO 2007 book, including the expansion of the article length into a three-part series. Time has been and will always be the major constraint in doing these articles yet hopefully there is enough interest to be triggered by it to bring about better documentation in the future.

January 1970
A popular science magazine in Jakarta, Intisari, published an article written by S. Kamah about a series of strange phenomena that had been taking place around lake Poso, Sulawesi island since 1965. The article dealt with a series of possible USO/UFO phenomena observed by multiple witnesses encompassing both local villagers as well as government officials. The phenomena involved sightings of unidentified glowing objects seen both underwater and on air around the lake.

Note: This entry, not included in the original timeline presented in BETA UFO’s book, was added for the subjective assessment that it highlighted a significant ‘international’ attention/recognition for the country’s UFO phenomena. The case was published in the Flying saucers Review case Histories (Vol. 1-18) in April 1971. First reference to it was found in the voluminous archives of waterufo.net

1971-1972
Senior politician/diplomat, Adam Malik was elected president of the UN General Assembly. During his term Malik was supposedly assisted by a ufologist named Farida Iskiovet in the investigations of the Mojave desert UFO sightings. A certain ‘obscured’ document found in the archives of bibliotecapleyades.net stated that the two had actually supported the setting up of a diplomatic relation with the extraterrestrials contacted by Iskiovet in Mojave desert.
Note: The authenticity of the document is still a mystery. Most of the searches I have done on the net for UN related UFO deliberations usually focus more on the November 27 1978 UN special hearing of the UFO phenomena, during its 33rd General Assembly. On the other hand, nothing else has so far been found about Malik and Iskiovet’s alleged involvement with the Mojave desert sightings or EBEs.

1974
Suara Karya newspaper published a series of articles deliberating the works of Erich von Daniken on ancient extraterrestrials/astronauts. This might well marked the first newspaper coverage on topics related to the UFO phenomena.

December 1976
Renown American ufologist, Prof. J. Allen Hynek visited Indonesia in response to an invitation extended by Foreign Minister Adam Malik. On December 16 the national television network (TVRI) reported a speech given by Hynek to the country’s Armed Forces top brass. On December 20 TVRI aired a special talk show discussing the UFO phenomena in Indonesia. The show featured Hynek accompanied by the country’s pioneering ufologist J. Salatun and engineer Tony Hartono Rusman -- the person who had sighted and photographed an unknown aerial object in the Cilamaya coastal region, West Java back in September 1975.
The show seemed to be quite successful in stirring up public interest and attention to the subject of ufology as later described by Salatun in his letter to Hynek a year after the televised show. During the show Salatun also supposedly encourage viewers to report any UFO related phenomena to the National Space and Aviation Agency (LAPAN) that he was heading.
Note: It is not known whether TVRI’s archive still carries the documentation for this talkshow. Such footage would definitely be an invaluable documentation to preserve regarding the development of ufology in the country.

February 1977
J. Salatun wrote a lengthy letter to Prof. Hynek, elaborating on the then current development of UFO sightings in the country. The letter, titled J. Salatun communiqué # 1, is available as a pdf file from The Sign Historical Group. Among others, the letter disclosed some intriguing cases such as the sighting and close encounter case in Alor and Pantar islands, East Nusa Tenggara, in 1959 and the discovery of physical traces from a reported UFO landing site in Mount Lawu, Central Java, in 1971.

1978
Mekatronika, a popular science magazine based in Bandung city, West Java, published a special edition (#5, 1978) dedicated to the UFO phenomena. This particular event mark the beginning of a much more intense local media attention to the subject of ufology.

December 18, 1978
Indonesian engineer Ahmad Padang, working as one of the UN’s Space Application expert, attended the 33rd General Assembly that discussed the subject of global UFO sightings and measures to coordinate efforts to monitor it.

1979
Popular Jakarta-based youth magazine, Hai published a special issue on ufology while Mekatronika magazine published a special issue on exobiology. In the same year, Desmond Leslie and George Adamski classical book “The Flying saucers Have Landed” was translated into Indonesian by Bandung-based publisher Harapan Baru. Also published was Daniken’s seminal “Chariots of The Gods” by another Bandung-based publisher Yayasan Tanadi under the title “Adakah Mahluk Lain dari Angkasa Luar?”.

1979
Painter maestro, Sudjana Kerton was allegedly abducted by UFO at his home in Dago Pakar, Bandung city, West Java.
Note: The story has never been thoroughly investigated although there are claims that UFO sightings have continued in the area.

June 30 1979
Publisher Yayasan Idayu held a special event in Jakarta’s National Awakening building where J. Salatun presented his paper on the current global UFO problem. The material would later be published as a book by Yayasan Idayu.