Rohana Muthalib

Rohana Muthalib was an Indonesian female beauty expert who served as the mayor of Pontianak from 1952 until 1956. She was a Minang descent, from Solok, West Sumatra. She graduated with a cosmetology degree from the Cor van der Leeuw Institute and became the first Indonesian to become a cosmetologist. She was appointed as the Mayor of Pontianak by the Minister of Internal Affairs Mohammad Roem in 1952. She was one of the two female mayors appointed during Roem's term. She was the first female to serve as the mayor of Pontianak. She was credited by Roem for fixing "minor but important" problems in the city, such as garbage problems and potholes. She also embarked on a program to provide the city with clean water. She faced protests from trade unions affiliated with the Central All-Indonesian Workers Organization, but she handled them ike her own children and managed to subdue the demand. She held the city's first press exhibition in 1954, which displayed thousands of daily publications and magazines. She resigned from the mayoral office in 1956 and stated that "It is easier to sit in a beauty salon than to sit as a mayor." She lived in the city of Bandung after retirement. Since 1978, she underwent several treatments in the hospital due to complications. She died at 23:00 on 7 April 1983 in Jakarta. She was buried at a cemetery in Bogor. She was married to Abdul Muthalib, a civil engineer. The marriage resulted in five children, one of whom was Nani Razak, a famous Indonesian female lawyer. The main hall at the Pontianak City Development Planning Agency is named after Muthalib.