The Establishment of AARS
It was the second ACRS, held in Beijing in the year 1981, when the Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS) was officially established. When the first Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS) was held in Bangkok, Thailand, there was no organization behind it, and was sponsored by The national Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) and Japan Association of Remote Sensing (JARS). This sponsorship was only for the first conference.
When the national delegates were invited to VIP dinner party by JARS, it was proposed that an organisation must be established. Mr. Murai prepared the draft Statutes, on the lines of International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). But was not liked by almost all delegates. The delegates present were from China (Prof. Yang Shi-ren), Bangladesh (Dr. Pramanik), Japan (my-self), Malaysia (Mr. Tim), Sri Lanka (Mr. Christy Nanayakkara) and Thailand (Mr. Suvit Vibulsresth, Mr. Manu Omakupt and Mr. Boonchana). It took them three nights from 8:00 pm to midnight to reach the conclusions.
Firstly, there was a hot discussion about the name. Three alternatives in front of them were Asian Association on Remote Sensing, Asian Association for Remote Sensing and Asian Association of Remote Sensing. It was on Mr. Tim from Malaysia recommended strongly on "on" and never agreed with ''of''' nor ''for'''. Almost more than an hour was spent until all agreed with ''on''.
Secondly, it was discussed whether the AARS should have a president who represents the association or not. The majority of delegates agreed that they should avoid the serious problem of seniority in Asia. Knowing that there are many senior old people who want to become a president as the seniority symbol, it was decided to have only General Secretary but not Secretary General who should work for Asian people as the secretariat. There was a consensus that Mr. Murai as a Japanese, should contribute to the association as the first General Secretary.
Other items of the Statutes were made very flexible and could be adjusted easily in case of conflicts, if the spirit of Asian "friendship'' or "family oriented rule' in the Asian tradition.
The delegates were then requested to bring back the statutes for the endorsement by the authorities in each country. In 1981, five countries; Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, Sri lanka and Thailand joined as ordinary members of AARS officially. China requested to wait one or two years till China establishes a National committee for AARS, because there were too many remote sensing organisations in China to represent Chinese remote sensing scientists. China joined AARS officially in 1983 with the endorsement by the Chinese Government.
The AARS has expanded to 23 ordinary members as of 1998, and Mr. Murai has continued to serve as the General Secretary from the start to now. ACRS survived, until now, on continuous support by JARS with just 5,000-10,000 US dollars every year.
Website: http://www.aars-acrs.org/index-aars.htm
Source : ACRS Memorial Book 1999
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