In Memoriam
Apohan Tuhan Hasting Albo, Head of System of Albo Kali Silat, was tragically killed in an automobile accident in El Paso, Texas on February 14, 2008. Apohan Tuhan Albo was born on the Big Island of Hawaii on June 23, 1970. He began studying martial arts at the age of five. During the majority of his life, he studied multiple martial arts simultaneously. He once told me that he usually had three masters at a time. His first instructor was his grandfather, who had brought the family system of kali with him from the Philippines. Apohan Tuhan Hasting Albo always said that his base or root art, and the foundation of everything that he did, was his family kali system. He studied other forms of kali, various forms of silat, to include styles from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, as well as several forms of kung fu and other Chinese arts. He also studied the Japanese arts, to include jujitsu and sword arts. He was granted instructor ranks in several arts, and became the head of system of his family kali system as well as two Chinese systems, and, due to his rank in the Chinese systems, was known by the title of Sigung.
It is very popular, in this day and age, for instructors in the martial arts to claim experience in multiple arts and so many high-level instructor ranks that one wonders how they could possibly have had time to amass such ranks and the knowledge to justify such titles and honors. After training with many such people, it becomes painfully obvious that the knowledge and skill they possess does not entitle them to such lofty titles and ranks. However, there are those who have legitimately earned such ranks. Hasting Albo was such a man. I was honored to train with him. It was obvious, to anyone of experience, that he was an extraordinarily accomplished and gifted martial artist. He preferred the title of Sigung, and I was honored to call him this, but even more honored to call him friend. When I met him, I had over fifteen years of martial arts experience, was older than he was by several years, and, as a law enforcement officer, had been in more than one life and death struggle. Despite not being easily impressed, Sigung Albo's skill astonished me. In addition to his martial arts prowess, he possessed a sense of honor and generosity of spirit that is seldom seen and which will be sorely missed. Many of the students in his classes came from underprivileged backgrounds and were taught for a reduced fee or for free, as he remembered the generosity of his own teachers and always sought to assist his community. When he died, he left behind a wife, siblings, a mother, and literally thousands of people whose lives he had touched.
Apohan Tuhan Albo granted me the title of Tuhan, or Master Instructor, in early 2006, making me the second highest-ranking instructor in the art of Albo Kali Silat. The day before he died, Apohan Tuhan Albo called me and we discussed many matters, including a seminar, which he was to instruct at my school. During this conversation, we discussed many plans involving the growth of Albo Kali Silat. With the passing of my friend and teacher, I intend to make his plans and wishes in regards to Albo Kali Silat a reality, and will assume the mantle of leadership in the art. As the head of Albo Kali Silat, I will remain Tuhan Jon Holloway, rather than assuming another rank or title.
Tuhan Holloway, March 2008
This is the second memorial entry to be added to the Albo Kali Silat website. I hope that no more have to be added, at least for a decade or two. When I decided to do a website to promote Albo Kali Silat, Apohan Tuhan Hasting Albo was still alive. He was very pleased with the website and told me that the man who had helped me create it was very talented. That, like much of what was said by Hasting, was an understatement.
Kenneth Blotteaux, Ken to his friends, was an incredibly talented man. Ken died on August 29, 2011. I lost a good friend, his wife and daughter lost an exceptional man, and the law enforcement community lost a valuable resource. Ken designed all of the graphics used on this site, including the Albo Kali Silat logo. The original logo was hand drawn by Hasting Albo, and Hasting heartily endorsed Ken's versions of the logo, as seen on the website and on various Albo Kali Silat uniform t-shirts and other logo items. From the time that we started this website up until the time of his death, I would write content for the site, and would shoot and edit video. Ken did all of the HTML and other coding in order to make a new webpage. He constantly tweaked and tinkered with the site, playing with ways to make it more user friendly and adding features as he and I came up with new ideas. I have, on a multitude of occasions, been complemented on the body of work that is represented by this website. This site was as much Ken's vision as mine, and would never have been what it is today without him.
I miss Ken now, and will miss him every time that I think about doing something new with the website. However, Ken did so much more than web design. He was a talented musician, an excellent instructor on a variety of topics, incredibly talented with virtually anything to do with computers, and a "techie" of the first order. If it was new and technological, Ken probably knew how to take it apart, modify it, increase its performance, put it back together, and was dreaming up ideas for the next generation of the thing before you or I even knew the new item existed. He was one of those people who would come up with ideas that were simple once he explained them, but that none of us had ever envisioned and which always made people go "why didn't I think of that?" He came up with a couple ideas that are still state of the art in regard to the use of computers in criminal investigations. Ken was a big man and a good one. He cast a long shadow, both physically and metaphorically. He was one of a very tiny group of people who I knew could always be relied upon and whom I consider true friends; men who know what the word "honor" really means and who truly value truth and what is right over life itself. Despite those who clamor and yell about their greatness and their own unimpeachable characters, the fact of the matter is this old world has never really had that many good and honorable people. We lost a great one, and the world is poorer for it.
Farewell, Ken.
Tuhan Holloway, January 2012
