IT’S sheer boldness, tenacity and focus on what she wants that has got Datuk Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria where she is today. The deputy secretary-general of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was the first girl in the Portuguese Settlement in Malacca to graduate from university, and probably the first person to get a job in the New Straits Times without even applying for it! “After graduation I didn’t want to go back to Malacca,” she said. “I went to sit in Noordin Sopiee’s (the late Tan Sri Dr Noordin who was then group editor of the NST) office for two hours. I told him I needed a job. He was very kind and asked me to sit for a test.” She worked as a journalist for six months and then decided that while it was interesting work, it was not her calling. “It was fun while it lasted,” she said. The family had a thing about working for the government. “My dad worked with the police, my mum was a telephone operator there. There was an ad for the administrative and diplomatic service and I applied. ”

She was accepted and went for a diploma in administration course for a year. “I was posted to the Ministry of Trade, in this same building in 1981. I have served under Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail, Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah and Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.” Her first posting was as chief procurement officer and administrator at the Asean Plant Quarantine Centre and Training Institute. ”This centre used to help Asean countries with quarantine issues. It was funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Now it’s gone.”

She went on to do her masters, and after that worked in the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) from 1993 as a trainer. Then she was persuaded to go back to MITI in 2002, as director of strategic planning, and worked again under Rafidah. In July 2005 she was promoted to senior director of investment policy. ”I found that very, very interesting and I liked working in MITI.” In September 2006 she became MITI’s deputy secretary-general. “It’s a good place to be and I have worked with one of the most interesting ministers to date – Rafidah. She’s very dynamic and professional. I learnt so much from her. As a woman learning to balance family and work, she taught me a number of things. When she touches down at every stop, her first call is to her mother, then her husband. On arrival at KLIA, her family will be there to receive her. This is important.”