Wherever there are UFOs, there are UFO enthusiasts, and since there are UFOs everywhere, UFO enthusiasts can be found everywhere as well. This week we’ll look at Indonesia, where members of that region’s largest UFO organization have recently offered their opinion to the local press on the upcoming Pentagon UAP Task Force unclassified report due to come out later this month.
An article written by Wulan Kusuma Wardhani and posted online for The Jakarta Post on Monday, June 7, 2021, is headlined, “Not a cult: Indonesia’s biggest UFO-community BETA-UFO weighs in on U.S. government report.” The two people speaking for the organization are 55-year-old Nur Agustinas and 48-year-old Anugerah Sentot Sudono. Agustinus was a cofounder of BETA-UFO IN 1997 along with Bayu Yunantias Amus and several others, and Sudono is described as a “senior member” in the article.
BETA is an acronym for “Benda Terbang Aneh,” which is Indonesian for “Unidentified Flying Object.” The term was introduced in the 1960s by Jacob Salutan, founder of the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space. Salutan was a vice air marshal in the Indonesian Air Force and started Studi UFO Indonesia (Indonesian UFO Studies/SUFOI). He wrote two books on UFOs: “UFO: Salah Satu Masalah Dunia Masa Kini” (UFO: One of the Current World Problems) and “Menyingkap Rahasia Piring Terbang” (Unveiling the Secrets of UFOs). As of this writing, SUFOI appears to be inactive.