11 Facts About Sinta Nuriyah

Sinta Nuriyah Wahid is the widow of former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Sinta Nuriyah was First Lady of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001.

Sinta Nuriyah attended an Islamic boarding school, where, at age 13, she fell in love with Wahid, who taught there.

When Wahid proposed again from Baghdad, Sinta Nuriyah accepted, marrying him three years before he returned to Indonesia in a ceremony where Wahid's grandfather stood in as a proxy.

Sinta Nuriyah helped support their four children by making and selling candies.

In 1992, Sinta Nuriyah was in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Sinta Nuriyah then finished her women's studies graduate degree at the University of Indonesia by having university staff carry her on a stretcher up to the building's fourth floor.

Since her husband's impeachment in 2001, Sinta Nuriyah has been an outspoken defender of moderate Islam.

Sinta Nuriyah has pursued a tradition of holding inter-faith meals during Ramadan.

Sinta Nuriyah has praised the bravery of Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and has criticized polygamy as unfair.

Sinta Nuriyah was included in TIME 100 list as one of The Most Influential People in 2018.