First female MPSP president looks back on her year

ONE year ago, Maimunah Mohd Sharif made history in Penang by becoming the first female president of the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP).

The gutsy yet affable lady is never short of smiles and reaching out to people comes naturally to her.

According to Maimunah, the past year as MPSP president has been a wonderful yet challenging experience for her.

“It simply makes my day when I receive a thank you or SMS from the people I have helped solve their problems.

“At the same time, I have taken on a personal challenge to ensure that all who walk into my office with angry faces will leave with smiles instead.

“And this can be a challenge at times,” she said in an interview at MPSP on Thursday.

Maimunah, 51, said that in the first three months of her appointment, she spent time knowing her staff and municipal councillors better, apart from understanding the council’s organisational set-up and operations.

She engages in community activities and programmes on Saturdays and she spends her Sundays visiting markets, recreation parks, garbage sites and other locations.

“I am blessed to have a highly understanding family.

“I leave my office here at 8pm for my home on the island so I often end up having late dinners with my family members,” she said, adding that she often goes on family vacations at the end of the year.

She is married to businessman Adli Lai Abdullah, 55, and they have two daughters.

Amira, 19, is an undergraduate at Curtin University’s campus in Sarawak and Atira, 14, is a Form Two student at SMJK (C) Heng Ee.

She said that she used her experience as the former Penang Municipal Council planning and development director as well as the former George Town World Heritage Incorporated general manager well to plan a clear direction for MPSP.

“I managed to inculcate teamwork among my staffers by get- ting them to jointly carry out small projects that they can put together under a one-year plan called, Fokus 2012,” she said.

Maimunah said Fokus 2012 was aimed at creating eco-communities and to encourage rate- payers to reduce their waste since almost 42% of the council’s budget is spent on waste collection and management services.

Treating the council like a corporate firm, she said that she prohibits her staff from using the words “I think, maybe and not sure” when replying to queries from the public.

She also ensures that her staff go around registering new commercial premises that can be assessed.

“After closing our year-to-year accounts last week, we managed to get a surplus of RM13.95mil this year, compared to RM11.2mil last year.

“This is the result of careful planning as well as holding sustainable programmes to increase our revenue,” she said.