Tearful farewell for outgoing Penang mayor Maimunah

GEORGE TOWN: Outgoing Lord Mayor of Penang City, Datuk Maimunah Mohd Shariff, bid a tearful farewell to the Penang Island City Council staffers and councillors yesterday.
She will assume her role as director-general of the United Nations (UN) Human Settlement (UN Habitat) programme in Nairobi, Kenya, next week.
As she punched her card out for the last time, Maimunah could not hold back her tears. She hugged everyone including her successor Yew Tung Seang, 54, and her senior staffers including MBPP management services division director Mohamed Akbar Mustapha and Dr Judy Shoba, who heads the public health division.
Maimunah, 56, has largely been the face of local government in Penang for the past decade.
She started her career as a town planner in the then municipal council (MPPP) before she was handpicked to form the George Town World Heritage Incorporated Office, the unit formed by the state government to oversee the Unesco World Heritage George Town Site and buffer zone.
She then headed the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP), the largest municipality in the country before she returned last June to become the MBPP president and the second Lord Mayor after the retirement of Datuk Patahiyah Ismail.
She was paid the ultimate compliment by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at the handing over of duties ceremony, when he applauded her as a problem solver and someone with strong leadership attributes.
"I always say that either you are part of the solution or you are the problem," said Lim, adding that she provided many solutions to the woes of local government.
Later, Maimunah told a press conference that she would head to Nairobi next week but she hoped to be back in February to oversee a dialogue session between the UN Habitat delegates and the MBPP here.
She also hoped to promote the Malaysian successful multi-ethnic brand in the world body.
"I hope to return to Penang after my term ends. It is a four-year term subject to an extension of another four years if the UN secretary-general wants it."
Her key focus will be to implement a 20-year vision for sustainable global cities, as the UN-Habitat had predicted that by 2050 the number of people living in cities will double to seven billion from 3.7 billion now.