Sinta Nuriyah

Sinta Nuriyah Wahid (also Sinta Wahid; 8 March 1948) is the widow of former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. She was First Lady of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001.

Biography

Sinta was born in Jombang Regency in 1948, the eldest daughter of 18 children. She attended an Islamic boarding school, where, at age 13, she fell in love with Wahid, who taught there. After her father, a professional calligrapher, refused to approve the marriage, Wahid, whose father was the leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, went abroad to study. When Wahid proposed again from Baghdad, Sinta accepted, marrying him three years before he returned to Indonesia in a ceremony where Wahid's grandfather stood in as a proxy. She has praised the bravery of Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and has criticized polygamy as unfair.