Tribute to Ahris Yaakup

Tadi sambil-sambil menjengah website penerbit UTM (www.penerbit.utm.my), ternampak sebuah karya terbaru yang dibuat khusus untuk mengenang jasa Allahyarham Ahris Yaakup, prof di Jab. Perancangan Bandar & Wilayah, Fakulti Alam Bina, UTM Skudai.

Arwah bolehlah dianggap Bapa GIS Malaysia dan antara penggerak utama pembangunan bidang GIS di rantau Asia.

Saya secara peribadi sempat menerima tunjuk ajar arwah di peringkat Ijazah kalau tidak silap pada tahun 2003, bagi subjek GIS dalam perancangan bandar.

Beliau yang saya kenali merupakan seorang insan yang sangat berdedikasi terhadap tugas dan tanggungjawab, disiplin terhadap ilmu dan mementingkan asas ilmu (fundamental) yang kukuh perlu ada pada setiap anak didiknya.

Tidak seperti ramai anak didiknya yang lain, yang lebih dekat dan kenal beliau secara peribadi, namun sepanjang saya di Skudai memang begitulah sifat beliau. Moga segala ilmu yang bermanfaat yang telah arwah curahkan akan menjadi bekalan (pahala) untuk menempuh perjalanan ke kehidupan yang abadi.

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“... I was Professor Dr. Ahris’s external examiner at Edinburgh for his Ph.D degree and was privileged to be able to keep in touch with him via trips to UTM and conferences, such as GISDECO, over nearly 20 years. Professor Dr. Ahris’s death is a very sad loss to everyone in UTM....”

Professor Ian Masser
Visiting Professor
Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London
Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures & Land Administration
University of Melbourne

“... Professor Dr. Ahris has contributed significantly to the development of GIS in Malaysia and Asia. He is the most well known scholar and researcher in Malaysia in the international GIS community. He is very active in organizing GIS conferences in Malaysia and has contributed significantly in the founding of the Asia GIS Association. ... we have lost a good friend and excellent researcher in Asia. He will always be remembered by the GIS community in Asia....”

Professor Anthony G.O. Yeh
Secretary-General of Asia GIS Association & Dean of Graduate School
The University of Hong Kong

“... He has meant so much to so many people both in Malaysia and abroad. He truly is one of the founding fathers of modern spatial planning in Malaysia. I am proud to have known him and many people should be even more proud to have been with him....”

Dr. Ir. Luc Boerboom
Assistant Professor of Spatial Planning and Decision Support Systems
International Institute for GEO-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC)
Enschede, The Netherlands

“... A very big loss – the man who my Australian colleague Ray Wyatt aptly described as ‘the Father of Malaysian GIS....’”

Professor Chris Webster
Director of CEBE
Cardiff School of City and Regional Planning
Cardiff University

“... Dr. Ahris was a great man and a good scholar....”

Dr. Prashanthi Devi, M.
Department of Environmental Management
School of Environmental Sciences
Bharathidasan University
Thiruchirapalli, India

“A man who has always travelled the path of righteousness and a beacon to all who desire his assistance. A true friend through and through; and a professional to the last fibre....”

Professor Dr. Mansor Ibrahim
Dean
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Enviromental Design
International Islamic University Malaysi

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Al-Fatihah dan moga Allah cucuri rahmat ke atas arwah.