KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia has lost one of its most renowned academics with the death of Royal Professor Tun Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid at 4.30pm today.
He is said to have died at Prince Court Medical Centre here due to old age.
Funeral prayers will be held at At-Taqwa Mosque in Taman Tun Dr Ismail only for family members due to the movement curbs against Covid-19.
The late professor, who is also father to former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, was born on January 28, 1922 in London.
He was born into a royal family, with his father being a prince from Johor, and served as a lieutenant in the military.
For his primary and secondary education, Ungku Aziz studied at the Malay School in Batu Pahat, after which he went to English College in Johor Baru.
The economist then attended Raffles College in Singapore in 1951. In 1964, he defended his doctoral dissertation at Waseda University in Tokyo.
He began his career in the Johor administration before he lectured at University Malaya (Singapore) from 1952 to 1961, after which he took a year-long break, during which he headed Malaysia’s Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
When he returned to University Malaya, he served as a professor and dean of the Faculty of Economics in Kuala Lumpur. Later, he was appointed vice-chancellor, a post he held from 1968 to 1988.
Among his legacies are the Botanical Garden, Museum of Asian Art, and the varsity’s famous cooperatives bookshop, Pekanbuku.
Ungku Aziz authored more than 50 books and monographs on the nation’s social and economic problems.
Among his various achievements that changed Malaysia’s landscape are founding Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Bhd (Angkasa) in 1971 and proposing the creation of Lembaga Tabung Haji in a white paper titled “Rancangan Membaiki Ekonomi Bakal-bakal Haji” (Improving Future Haj Pilgrims’ Economy Plan) in 1959.
Internationally, he consulted for the United Nations’ specialised groups, including the International Labour Organisation, Unesco, and UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, among others. – The Vibes, December 15, 2020
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