Prof. Dr. Kamarudin Mat Salleh : In Memoriam

1. On Saturday 10th October 2009 Prof. Dr. Kamarudin Mat Salleh, after suffering from cancer for about a year, died at his home on Jalan 9 Taman Sri Jeluk, Kajang, about 6.50 pm that evening. He left a wife, Azizah and six children, three boys and three girls.

2. He was my former student. I plucked him from obscurity at the Jalan Pantai Baru Campus when he was in 2nd year by asking him to quit his activities in students society and concentrated on his studies, which he did. In the 4th year he completed an honours project under supervision on "the ethnobotany of Simaroubaceae", which had prompted him to finish a book on "Tumbuhan Ubatan Malaysia 2002". Hailed from a rural family of kampung Tepi Sungai, Tanah Merah, Kelantan, he was not bright student but a very hardworking one. It is on the basis of his hardwork attitude that I recommended to Charlie, then Dean of UKMSabah, to take him as a tutor. He was sent to University of Aberdeen to read his MS in chemotaxonomy of Annonaceae under Dr. Chris Wilcox, and subsequently to University of Michigan to read for his PhD in the taxonomy of Annonaceae.

3. He was my mentee. Upon returning to UKMSabah, we kept in touch because we shared a common interest in the taxonomy of Malesian plants and ethnobotany. When UKMSabah was about to be dismantled, I asked him to return to Bangi. Soon he was promoted to Associate Professor. We began our taxonomic journey into the biology and taxonomy of Rafflesia, and we co-authored Rafflesia tengku-adlinii, a small species endemic to Sabah. Though we argued a lot on the taxonomy, we remained as taxonomic comrades, and acknowledged me as his mentor.

4. He was my friend. Though we differ in age, he was 51 when he died and I am just past 61, we respected each other as colleague. He always featured in my research group, we shared many courses and we also co-supervised students. When he was promoted to professor, I asked him to stay away a bit from my shadow because I strongly believed as my understudy and successor in taxonomy, he should be on his own. He should be Prof. Dr. Kamarudin Mat Salleh, and not a former student and a mentee of mine. Some friends interpreted this as my attempt to divorce him.

5. He was fondly remembered as an emotional researcher whose "families" are Annonaceae and Rafflesiaceae, a professor who wanted to convert many students to join his families; who loved to talk about computer, facebook, photography and cameras, blogs, flickers and spin etc. He loved writing messages in UKM email network, some times created animosity amongst some. I missed him so much. May his soul be among the chosen believers.