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 the 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 was a teacher 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. After Wahid returned in 1971, Sinta finished a degree in Sharia law. She helped support their four children by making and selling candies.