Acknowledgements

Alhamdulillah… akhirnya thesis saya ini beres juga, nyampe juga saatnya saya bisa mengungkapkan ucapan² trimakasih dalam bentuk Acknowledgements. Kalau jaman bikin TA di ITB dulu, nggak kenal Acknowledgements, adanya Kata Pengantar, dan menulis Kata Pengantar itu merupakan saat² yg dikhayalkan. Nggak kebayang bahwa suatu saat nyampe juga kita ke masa itu. Ya, sebab jika sudah masanya kita menulis Kata Pengantar, itu berarti TA kita sudah beres.

Acknowledgements ini saya bikin pake hati lho… kalimatnya dipikir bener². Yup, sebab kata² dalam acknowledgements ini haruslah benar² merefleksikan rasa trimakasih saya kepada orang² yg telah berjasa dalam penyusunan thesis saya dan kelancaran study saya di UPM, serta menggambarkan jasa dan peranan orang² tsb dengan tepat. Nggak gampang lho ternyata, lebih susah dari bikin literature review kali, hihihi… Terutama krn saya harus mengungkapkannya dlm bhs Inggris, sementara hati saya berbicara dalam bhs Indonesia, so, susah sekali nyari padanan kalimat dlm bhs Inggris yg memiliki sense yg sama dengan kalimat versi Indonesia. Yg terlihat dalam blog ini sudah mengalami proses editing berkali-kali. Makanya, dalam first dan second draft thesis yg saya kasihin ke komite supervisor untuk diperiksa, acknowledgements ini belum saya ikut sertakan, krn memang belum siap. Saya masih sibuk nyari kata² yg pas. Padahal dah mulai saya tulis sejak awal writing thesis lho… Nah, skarang boleh dibilang dah fix deh.

Update: Acknowledgement ini sudah diupdate sesuai yg ada di thesis versi terakhir setelah viva.

Praise be to Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, who had blessed me His mercy to accomplish this research smoothly.

Special thanks to a wise and generous Dr. Ahmad Rodzi Mahmud, my advisor as well as supervisor, who always stood by me through my hard times in UPM, facilitated everything I need to carry out my research, followed my research progress from time to time, and thoroughly read my thesis since the first draft until in final form. His dedication had greatly contributed to the smoothness of my research. Many thanks as well to my co-supervisors, a knowledgeable Dr. Noordin Ahmad for his forbearance in guiding me on GIS, and encouraging me to keep striving until finish; and a friendly Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohd. Shariff for his constructive comments that improved my writing.

The fire station data used in this research were obtained by courtesy of Bpk. Sardiyo Sardi, Head of Public Participation Division, Fire Department of DKI Jakarta; Bpk. Unggul Wibowo, his partner; Bpk. Fredy Aling, Head of Fire Office of Jakarta Selatan; and the rest of their staff. My deep appreciation to them.

I am indebted to my Indonesian friends currently living in other parts of the world, Emil Juni (US) and A. Husni Thamrin (Japan) from ITB, who had helped me retrieving useful references; and to Henny Rolan from Kp. Gajah, ID-Gmail, who had been my informal yet professional English consultant.

My gratitude to other lecturers in Geomatics Engineering, Dr. Helmi Zulhaidi Mohd. Shafri, Dr. Taher Buyong, Prof. Shattri Manshor and Dr. Biswajeet Pradhan, who have enriched my knowledge in GIScience. Not to forget my labmates and classmates, Farah, Aliaa, Habshi, Omar, Rizal, Rabiatul, kak Yati, Bazlan, Rusdi, Fairuz, En. Wan Darani, Wan Safinah, Saiful, Nik Rin, Wan Zanariah, Fauzul and others, who had been nice partners for discussion and study.

To my country fellows in UPM Indonesian Student Association (PPI-UPM), Indah, Rahmi, Riri, Sandra, Ira, Ferra, kang Iwan, mas Suliadi, Teguh, Farhan, pak Kudus, pak Darmadi, pak Azhari and others, thanks for having enlivened my campus life and made me feel at home in this place far from home. I really enjoyed the spirit of kinship in every event we went through together.

Most of all, thanks to my parents and family who never cease to pray for me and supporting me from afar. Their thoughtful prayers had motivated me where I would have faltered, and had seen me through this study to its completion.

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