Anne Sullivan: The Miracle Worker

Saturday, March 3, 2012, marks the 125th anniversary of Helen Keller

meeting Anne Sullivan, the "miracle worker", who would change her
life and set her on the path toward becoming one of the most
remarkable women of all time. Struck by what's believed...
JOSH MAPES
MAR 2, 2012
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Saturday, March 3, 2012, marks the 125th anniversary of Helen

Kellermeeting Anne Sullivan, the "miracle worker", who would change her life
and set her on the path toward becoming one of the most remarkable women
of all time. Struck by what's believed to have been scarlet fever as an infant,
Helen Keller was both blind and deaf by the age of 19 months. Having uttered
a few simple words and heard sounds as an infant, being blind and deaf made
her feel isolated, causing her to often throw fits and tantrums. After schools for
the blind refused to admit her, the Kellers sought the help of
inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who had spent the prior decade working with
the deaf and experimenting with hearing devices. He then suggested they
contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, who sent one of their students,
Anne Sullivan, to work with Helen Keller. Sullivan arrived at the Keller's home
in Alabama on March 3, 1887. She brought Helen a doll as a gift, but
immediately began to fingerspell "d-o-l-l" into Helen's hand, hoping that she
would associate the two. Over the next few months, Anne and Helen worked
together nonstop, even moving into a cottage together on the Keller's
property, so they could maintain focus on communication. Their lessons
together often became physical and violent during Helen's frequent moments
of frustration. Helen's breakthrough occurred one day at the water pump,
when Sullivan poured water on one of Helen's hands while fingerspelling "w-a-
t-e-r" in the other. For the first time, Helen made the association between an
object and what was spelled in her hand. According to her autobiography,
Helen then spent the rest of the day demanding that Sullivan spell out the
words for countless other objects.

The Water Scene from the 1962 film, The Miracle Worker. Keller spent the
rest of her life sharing her message with the world by attending Radcliffe
College, writing books, and touring the world. But her extraordinary
accomplishments can be traced back to that moment at the water pump, when
Anne Sullivan communicated with her for the first time. She recounts this day
in detail in The Story of My Life, which served as the basis for William
Gibson's play, The Miracle Worker. First produced as a teleplay in 1957, The
Miracle Worker opened on Broadway on October 19, 1959, with Anne
Bancroft playing Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke starring as Helen Keller. The
physical nature of the play stunned theatergoers, as actresses slapping and
wrestling each other was rare at the time. However, knowing that the story
was based on a real Helen Keller made the final "water" scene all the more
powerful, and the play became an instant commercial and critical success. In
addition to winning the Tony Award for Best Play, Bancroft and Duke both
earned Tonys for their performances. After a long casting process, both
Bancroft and Duke were ultimately asked to reprise their roles for the 1962
film. Shot in black and white, Penn used mostly hand-held camera shots for
the many physical scenes between Bancroft and Duke. Both actresses wore
heavy padding under their costumes to prevent injury. The film depicts the
teaching method that both Keller and Sullivan describe in their letters. Almost
immediately, the film shows Anne hovering over Helen and observing her
behavior. Instead of trying to provoke her, she waits to see Helen's natural
instincts. Unlike Helen's parents, Sullivan attempts to teach at the same time
as disciplining, believing that "obedience without understanding is blindness,
too." The Miracle Worker depicts the obstacles both Keller and Sullivan had to
overcome in order for them to be able to communicate with each other.
Today, technology enables people to connect in countless ways over many
devices, but 125 years ago, Anne Sullivan's patience and determination
allowed her to do what seemed impossible—to teach a 7-year-old Helen
Keller to communicate with the world.
 Anne Sullivan Biography.com
Educator(1866–1936)
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QUICK FACTS

NAME
Anne Sullivan

OCCUPATION
Educator

BIRTH DATE
April 14, 1866

DEATH DATE
October 20, 1936

EDUCATION
Perkins School for the Blind

PLACE OF BIRTH
Feeding Hills, Massachusetts

PLACE OF DEATH
Forest Hills, New York

AKA
Johanna Sullivan
Anne Sullivan

MAIDEN NAME
Johanna Mansfield Sullivan

FULL NAME
Johanna Mansfield Sullivan Macy
 CITE THIS PAGE
 Anne Sullivan was a teacher who taught Helen Keller, a blind and deaf
child, how to communicate and read Braille.
IN THESE GROUPS

 FAMOUS PEOPLE NAMED ANNE

 FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN IN UNITED STATES
 FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN ON APRIL 14
 REAL LIFE LEADING LADIES
Show All Groups
Synopsis

Born on April 14, 1866, in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, Anne Sullivan was a gifted teacher best
known for her work with Helen Keller, a blind and deaf child she taught to communicate. At
only 20 years of age, Sullivan showed great maturity and ingenuity in teaching Keller and
worked hard with her pupil, bringing both women much acclaim. Sullivan even helped Keller
write her autobiography.

Early Life

Anne Sullivan was born on April 14, 1866, in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. A gifted teacher,
Anne Sullivan is best known for her work with Helen Keller, a blind and deaf child she taught to
communicate. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Ireland during the Great Famine
of the 1840s. The couple had five children, but two died in their infancy.

Sullivan and her two surviving siblings grew up in impoverished conditions, and struggled with
health problems. At the age of five, Anne contracted an eye disease called trachoma, which
severely damaged her sight. Her mother, Alice, suffered from tuberculosis and had difficulty
getting around after a serious fall. She died when Anne was eight years old.

Even at an early age, Sullivan had a strong-willed personality. She sometimes clashed with her
father, Thomas, who was left to raise Sullivan and her siblings after their mother's death.
Thomas—who was often abusive—eventually abandoned the family. Anne and her infirm
younger brother, Jimmie, were sent to live at the Tewksbury Almshouse, a home for the poor.
Some reports say that Sullivan also had a sister who was sent to live with relatives.

Tewksbury Almshouse was dirty, rundown, and overcrowded. Sullivan's brother Jimmie died
just months after they arrived there, leaving Anne alone. While at Tewksbury, Sullivan learned
about schools for the blind and became determined to get an education as a means to escape
poverty. She got her chance when members from a special commission visited the home. After
following the group around all day, she worked up the nerve to talk to them about sending her to
a special school.
Star Pupil

Sullivan left Tewksbury to attend the Perkins School for the Blind in 1880, and underwent
surgery to help improve her limited vision. Still, Sullivan faced great challenges while at Perkins.
She had never been to school before and lacked social graces, which put her at odds with her
peers. Humiliated by her own ignorance, Sullivan had a quick temper and liked to challenge the
rules, which got her in trouble with her teachers. She was, however, tremendously bright, and she
soon advanced academically.

Sullivan did eventually settle down at the school, but she never felt like she fit in there. She did
develop close friendships with some of her teachers, including the school's director Michael
Anagnos. Chosen as the valedictorian of her class, Sullivan delivered a speech at her June 1886
graduation. She told her fellow students that "duty bids us go forth into active life. Let us go
cheerfully, hopefully, and earnestly, and set ourselves to find our especial part. When we have
found it, willingly and faithfully perform it; for every obstacle we overcome, every success we
achieve tends to bring man closer to God."

Anagnos helped Sullivan find a job after graduation. The Keller family had written him looking
for a governess for their daughter Helen, who was blind and deaf. In March 1887, Sullivan
traveled to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to work for the Keller family. Sullivan had studied the
instruction methods used with Laura Bridgman, a deaf and blind student she had known at
Perkins, before going to Alabama.

Teaching Helen Keller

At only 20 years of age, Sullivan showed great maturity and ingenuity in teaching Keller. She
wanted to help Keller make associations between words and physical objects, and worked hard
with her rather stubborn and spoiled pupil. After isolating Keller from her family in order to
better educate her, Sullivan began working to teach Keller how to communicate with the outside
world. During one lesson, she finger-spelled the word "water" on one of Keller's hands as she ran
water over her student's other hand. Keller finally made her first major breakthrough, connecting
jthe concept of sign language with the objects around her.

Thanks to Sullivan's instruction, Keller learned nearly 600 words, most of her multiplication
tables, and how to read Braille within a matter of months. News of Sullivan's success with Keller
spread, and the Perkins school wrote a report about their progress as a team. Keller became a
celebrity because of the report, meeting the likes of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell,
and Mark Twain.

Sullivan decided that Keller could benefit from the Perkins School's program, and the two spent
time there off-and-on throughout Keller's adolescence. They also sought aid for Keller's speech
at the Wight-Humason School in New York City. When Keller's family could no longer afford to
pay Sullivan or manage Helen's school costs, a number of wealthy benefactors—including
millionaire Andrew Carnegie—stepped in to help them defray their costs.

Despite the physical strain on her own limited sight, Sullivan helped Keller continue her studies
at Radcliffe College in 1900. She spelled the contents of class lectures into Keller's hand, and
spent hours conveying information from textbooks to her. As a result, Keller became the first
deaf-blind person to graduate from college.

Personal Life

Working with Keller on an autobiography, Sullivan met John A. Macy, a Harvard University
instructor. Macy helped edit the manuscript, and he fell in love with Sullivan. After refusing
several marriage proposals from him, she finally accepted. The two were wed in 1905.

Sullivan, however, did not let her marriage affect her life with Keller. She and her husband lived
with Keller in a Massachusetts farmhouse. The two women remained inseparable, with Sullivan
traveling with Keller on numerous lecture tours. On stage, she helped relay Keller's words to the
audience, as Keller had never learned to speak clearly enough to be widely understood.

Around 1913 or 1914, Sullivan's marriage broke up. Macy went to Europe, but the two never
divorced. Sullivan began to experience health problems, and Polly Thomson became Keller's
secretary. The three women eventually took up residence in Forest Hills, New York.

Legacy

The trio struggled to make ends meet. In 1919, Sullivan played herself in the first film version of
her life in order to gain more income. Deliverance proved to be a box office failure, and she and
Keller ended up touring on the vaudeville theater circuit to earn money. They shared their story
of triumph with fascinated audiences for years.

By the late 1920s, Sullivan had lost most of her vision. She experienced chronic pain in her right
eye, which was then removed to improve her health. For several summers, Sullivan visited
Scotland, hoping to restore some of her strength and vitality.

Sullivan died on October 20, 1936, at her home in Forest Hills, New York. Her ashes were
placed at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.—a distinct honor, as it is also the final
resting place of President Woodrow Wilson and other distinguished individuals. At her funeral,
Bishop James E. Freeman said, "Among the great teachers of all time she occupies a
commanding and conspicuous place. . . . The touch of her hand did more than illuminate the
pathway of a clouded mind; it literally emancipated a soul."
Sullivan's story lives on through film and theatrical productions. Her work with Keller was
immortalized in the play The Miracle Worker, which was later turned into the 1962 film starring
Patty Duke as Keller and Anne Bancroft as Sullivan. The latest Broadway revival of the show
debuted in 2010, and features Abigail Breslin as Keller and Alison Pill as Sullivan.

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Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller dramatically changed the world's perception of
individuals with disabilities.
Digital Collections
Anne Sullivan Photographs
Helen Keller Photograph Collection
Anagnos-Sullivan-Keller Correspondence, 1886-1896
Helen Keller Newspaper Notices Collection
First Day Issue of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Stamp and Cachet Collection, 1980
Anne Sullivan was born in April 1866 in Feeding Hills, a village in
western Massachusetts. She was the oldest child of Thomas and
Alice Sullivan, immigrants who, like thousands of their
countrymen, had left Ireland during the Great Famine. Life in
America was not easy for the Sullivan family.

Early challenges

When Sullivan was about five years old, she contracted trachoma,
an eye disease caused by bacteria. Trachoma usually begins in
childhood and causes repeated, painful infections, making the
eyes red and swollen. Over time the recurring irritation and
scarring of the cornea causes severe vision loss. Sullivan dealt
with the effects of trachoma throughout her life.

Sullivan's mother died when Anne was about eight years old.
Thomas Sullivan found it too difficult to raise a family by himself
and soon abandoned his children. Anne and her younger brother
Jimmie were sent to live in the "poor house" in Tewksbury.

Conditions at the Tewksbury Almshouse were deplorable.

Chronically underfunded, overcrowded and in disrepair, the
Almshouse housed an average of 940 men, women and children
during the years that Sullivan was there. The mortality rate was
very high, and within three months of their arrival, Jimmie Sullivan
died. The children had been close, and Sullivan felt the loss
deeply.

Fortunately, a few people took an interest in Sullivan and gave

her opportunities to improve. She underwent eye operations that
gave her limited, short-term relief, and she took a trial position as
a housemaid that ended unsuccessfully. Early in her stay at
Tewksbury, Sullivan learned from a resident who was blind that
there were schools for blind children. Realizing that her best hope
lay in getting an education, her ambition to go to one of those
schools became the central focus of her life.

Life-changing moment

In 1880, Sullivan learned that a commission was coming to

investigate the conditions at Tewksbury Almshouse. On the day of
their visit, Anne followed them around, waiting for an opportunity
to speak. Just as the tour was concluding, she gathered up all of
her courage, approached a member of the team of inspectors,
and told him that she wanted to go to school. That moment
changed her life. On October 7, 1880, Anne Sullivan entered
the Perkins Institution.
Anne Sullivan's life experience made her very different from the
other students at Perkins. At the age of 14, she couldn't read or
even write her name. She had never owned a nightgown or
hairbrush, and did not know how to thread a needle. While
Sullivan had never attended school, she was wise in the ways of
the world, having learned a great deal about life, politics and
tragedy at Tewksbury, a side of society unknown even to her
teachers.

Most of the other girls at Perkins were the sheltered daughters of

wealthy merchants or prosperous farmers. Unfortunately, many of
Sullivan's fellow students ridiculed her because of her ignorance
and rough manners. Some of her teachers were particularly
unsympathetic and impatient.

Perkins experience

Anne Sullivan's recollections of her early years at Perkins were

mainly of feeling humiliated about her own shortcomings. Her
anger and shame fueled a determination to excel in her studies.
She was a very bright young woman, and in a very short time she
closed the gaps in her academic skills.

After the first two years, Sullivan's life at Perkins became easier.
She connected with a few teachers who understood how to reach
and challenge her. Mrs. Sophia Hopkins, the house mother of her
cottage, was especially warm and understanding. Sullivan
became like a daughter to her, spending time at her Cape Cod
home during school vacations. She had yet another surgery on
her eyes, and this time it improved her vision dramatically. At last
she could see well enough to read print.

Sullivan befriended Laura Bridgman, another remarkable Perkins

resident. Fifty years earlier, Bridgman had been the first person
who was deafblind to learn language. Sullivan learned the manual
alphabet from her, and frequently chatted and read the
newspaper to the much older woman. Bridgman could be very
demanding, but Sullivan seemed to have more patience with her
than many of the other students. Not much has been written
about their friendship, but it's tempting to think they shared a
special affinity because neither completely fit in with the larger
Perkins community.
Anne Sullivan learned to excel academically at Perkins but she
did not conform. She frequently broke rules; her quick temper and
sharp tongue brought her close to expulsion on more than one
occasion. She might not have made it to graduation without the
intercessions of those few teachers and staff who were close to
her.

But in June 1886, not only did she graduate, she gave
the Valedictory Address. She charged her classmates and herself
with these words: "Fellow-graduates: duty bids us go forth into
active life. Let us go cheerfully, hopefully and earnestly, and set
ourselves to find our especial part. When we have found it,
willingly and faithfully perform it…."
Just what her "especial part" would be was not at all clear to
Sullivan. She had no family to return to, and no qualifications for
employment. She feared that she would have to return to
Tewksbury. Her joy at graduating was tempered by her fears
about the future. Fate intervened in an unexpected way.

Opportunity of a lifetime

During the summer of 1886, Captain Keller of Alabama wrote

to Perkins Director Michael Anagnos, asking him to recommend a
teacher for his young daughter Helen, who had been deaf and
blind since the age of 19 months. Helen's mother had read about
Laura Bridgman's education at Perkins in Charles
Dickens' American Notes and began to hope that her own
daughter could be reached.
The Kellers' search for help ultimately led to educator Alexander
Graham Bell, who recommended that the Kellers contact
Anagnos at Perkins School for the Blind. Having long admired
Sullivan's intelligence and indomitable determination, Anagnos
immediately thought of her as the best candidate to teach the
seven-year-old girl.
Although a bit intimidated by the challenge, Sullivan knew this
was just the opportunity she needed. She spent the next few
months studying the reports of Laura Bridgman's education by
Howe and her other teachers. In March of 1887 she left for
Tuscumbia, Alabama, to begin a new chapter in her life.

Entering Helen's world

Much has been written about the day Helen Keller and Anne
Sullivan first met, and of how the teacher finally helped her
student break out of her dark and silent world. The methods
Sullivan used when she began teaching Helen were very much
like those Dr. Howe employed with Laura Bridgman. They
followed a strict schedule and new vocabulary words were
introduced in a formal lesson. It was not long before Sullivan
realized that the rigid routine did not suit her exuberant and
spontaneous young pupil. Never one to be limited by rules,
Sullivan abandoned the prescribed schedule and shifted the focus
of her teaching.
Sullivan decided to enter Helen's world, follow her interests and
add language and vocabulary to those activities. She observed
that Helen's infant cousin learned language by being spoken to,
and talked to the girl constantly by fingerspelling into her hand. In
her letters to Mrs. Hopkins, she discussed the reasons for her
change in approach:

I am convinced that the time spent by the teacher in digging out of

the child what she has put into him, for the sake of satisfying
herself that it has taken root, is so much time thrown away. It's
much better, I think, to assume the child is doing his part, and that
the seed you have sown will bear fruit in due time. It's only fair to
the child, anyhow, and it saves you unnecessary trouble.
Helen flourished under Sullivan's creative approach to teaching,
and her thirst for information seemed unquenchable. Remarkably,
within six months she learned 575 words, "multiplication tables as
high as five and the Braille system." Although Sullivan was a
brilliant and intuitive teacher who had moved well beyond earlier
rigid prescriptive teaching methods, she continued to seek and
receive support and advice from Anagnos and others at Perkins.

Home schooling had created a wonderful foundation for Helen's

education, but Sullivan felt impeded by the isolation and limited
materials available in Tuscumbia. She decided it would be best
for Helen to bring her to the educationally rich environment of
Perkins School for the Blind.

Tensions at Perkins
Perkins' role in the education of Helen Keller has always been
steeped in controversy. Even before she arrived on the Boston
campus, Helen had been the central subject of Perkins' Annual
Report. Director Michael Anagnos had drawn from Sullivan's
many letters and reports on her prodigy's progress and
embellished them with his florid prose. Sullivan hated the
exaggeration and worried that it might create unrealistically high
expectations of Helen that could harm her.

After Helen and Anne arrived on campus, the tensions only

increased. The Perkins resources were wonderful, but Sullivan
disliked her loss of independence. The pair's relationship with
Director Anagnos and Perkins was alternately warm and strained
for several years. Keller and Sullivan sometimes lived for long
periods at the school and sometimes stayed in Alabama.

In 1891, Helen was accused of plagiarizing a story she wrote for

Anagnos' birthday, leading to investigative interviews that deeply
wounded the student and her teacher. The strained relationship
with Perkins was finally severed when Helen wrote an
autobiographical magazine article for Youth's Companion that
pointedly failed to even mention the school.
Although Keller and Sullivan maintained friendships with several
people from Perkins, for many years they did not have any official
interactions with the school. Ironically, though Anne Sullivan
never returned to the Perkins campus, her influence at the school
is significant. Her skills as a teacher are still deeply respected.

No other individuals have had a greater influence on the

education of children who are deafblind than Anne Sullivan and
Helen Keller. No school in the United States has educated more
children who are deafblind than Perkins. Sullivan's child-centered
methods are the centerpiece of the educational philosophy of
the Perkins Deafblind Program.
Moving on
Keller apparently forgave her unhappy experiences at Perkins. In
1909 she donated many books from her personal library to the
school. Unable to attend the Perkins centennial celebration in
1932, she wrote:

I shall never be able to express my grateful indebtedness to the

Massachusetts School…. Best of all, the teacher who has been
the light and the beauty of my life graduated from the Perkins
Institution, and it was Mr. Anagnos who sent her to me. Surely,
words are inadequate for such sacred and far-reaching
associations.
Helen Keller finally returned to the Perkins campus in 1956 to
participate in the dedication ceremonies for the Deafblind
Program's Keller-Sullivan Cottage. Her visit kindled warm
relationships with many at Perkins that she enjoyed throughout
the rest of her life.
Both Keller and Sullivan are revered at Perkins. Helen Keller has
served as an inspiration for what is possible for young people who
are deafblind; Anne Sullivan has served as an inspiration for the
teachers who help these students achieve their potential. Perkins
School for the Blind is proud and grateful to have contributed to
the education of the great humanitarian Helen Keller and her
brilliant teacher Anne Sullivan.

Read Anne Sullivan's valedictory address from her graduation

from Perkins School for the Blind.
Suggested citation for scholars:

McGinnity, B.L., Seymour-Ford, J. and Andries, K.J. (2004) Anne

Sullivan. Perkins History Museum, Perkins School for the Blind,
Watertown, MA.
 Tri Rismaharini: Madame mayor
iron fist, tender heart
 Indra Harsaputra

The Jakarta Post

Surabaya, East Java | Sat, February 15, 2014 | 04:10 pm

(Warta Kota/Henry Lopulalan) (Warta Kota/Henry Lopulalan)

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On a road in the middle of Surabaya, still deserted at dawn before daybreak, Adi Sasono,
a sanitation worker, was diligently sweeping the area around Bungkul Park.

'€ œIn a moment, this place will be crowded with people exercising. Bu Risma always
wants it to be clean before they arrive,'€ • he said, referring to Mayor Tri Rismaharini.

According to him, she had been checking pedestrian zones since she was head of the
city'€ ™s Sanitation and Parks Office and Planning Agency, a post she held until 2010.

Bungkul, a neglected park 10 years ago, has now become one of Surabaya'€ ™s 10
recreation centers. The 10,000-square-meter park received the 2013 Asian Townscape
Sector Award from the United Nations in Fukuoka, Japan, in
November.

Surabaya today is a lush green and clean sanctuary for its citizens, and for that they
largely credit their mayor, whose bold moves have changed the face of the city over the
past three years.

An architect and city planner by training, she has transformed 22 percent of the city'€ ™s
171 hectares into open green spaces, far above the rate of 14 percent achieved by Jakarta.
Keputih, an area known as dump, is on its way to becoming a park of colorful flowers.

But the story of how she transformed the country'€ ™s second-largest city and trade hub
of East Java is no fairy tale involving overnight magic. As a native of the city who shares
the straight-talking trait of Surabayans, Risma solves problems on the spot with her own
hands, which oftentimes involves quarreling with people.

She rolls up her sleeves to clean gutters, to follow clogged drainages and remove
obstructions to prevent flooding. She sweeps the streets and crosses pedestrian bridges in
the middle of a toll road to get things done.

The 52-year-old woman is loved and loathed for her heavy-handed approach, considered
effective in managing the rough nature of Surabaya'€ ™s denizens.

Her latest test is to save Surabaya Zoo, where poor management has caused the death of
scores of animals over the past two years. Businesspeople have proposed converting the
zoo'€ ™s land into a hotel and restaurant, but she has rejected the plan, arguing that the
zoo is the icon and pride of the city.
'€ œI want to see the public enjoy the city'€ ™s tourist spots at low coast or even free of
charge. I have the same aspiration for the Surabaya Zoo,'€ • said Risma.

Admitting, however, that she had run out of ideas on how to deal with the deaths of the
zoo'€ ™s animals and suspecting corruption, Risma has reported the zoo to the
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Born in Kediri, East Java, as the third of five children to Mochammad Chuzaini and Siti
Mudjiatun, she suffered from asthma as a child, which limited her activity. But her father,
a tax official who owns a grocery business, didn'€ ™t treat her differently. He encouraged
her to help him with his business and paid her for her work.

Chuzaini, who also cofounded an orphanage, taught his children compassion and sharing
with the less fortunate.

Risma studied architecture at the 10 November Institute of Technology, Surabaya. It was

during this time she met Djoko Saptoadji, another student, who later she married. After
graduation, she worked as a civil servant in Bojonegoro, East Java.

As the head of the city'€ ™s parks office before being elected mayor, Risma showed
results. Apart from creating green open spaces, she also reduced flooding. In 2010,
Surabaya'€ ™s rainy season inundated area was clipped to 2,486 hectares from 3,016
hectares in 2005.

Risma is the first woman mayor of Surabaya, taking office on Sept. 28, 2010, in place of
Bambang Dwi Hartono, who later became her deputy until his official resignation in
June. Risma and Bambang ran under the banner of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P) and won the city mayoral election with 358,187 votes, or 38.53 percent.

'€ œAs a government executive, I can'€ ™t only provide aid for poor people, I'€ ™m also
trying to maintain luxury housing zones'€ ™ conditions so that their roads are smooth,
their drainage systems run well and their water catchement areas function properly in
order to prevent floods,'€ • she said.

She also has shut down brothels and prostitution hubs in the city, arguing their negative
influences on children. The famous Dolly area is scheduled to be closed down this year.

The Economist magazine has described Surabaya as competitive among 120 world cities
in environmental preservation, scoring higher than Los Angeles. Surabaya also surpassed
Dubai in terms of waste management.

'€ œI want no traffic jams and floods in my city,'€ • affirmed Risma, who was elected
Mayor of the Month this month by the City Mayors Foundation, an international
association based in London.

'€ œI'€ ™m focusing on turning Surabaya into a city of trade and services. I'€ ™m more
inclined to place industries outside Surabaya like Gresik and its vicinity,'€ • said Risma,
who has imposed a five-year ban on the entry of industries to Surabaya.

Amid her busy schedule, Risma was once noticed at a Surabaya shopping center with her
two children, Fuad Nenardi and Tantri Gunarni. Claiming to dislike wearing makeup and
high-heeled shoes, although she was brought up in a well-to-do family, Risma was
educated by her father to live modestly.

'€ œI never imagined I could reach the present office of mayor in my career. My father
asked me to study architecture for the simple reason of enabling me to get a job soon
after graduation,'€ • she said.

A survey by researchers from University of Indonesia in 2013 positioned her as a rising

political star capable of matching the popularity of Jakarta Governor Joko
'€ œJokowi'€ • Widodo.

Jokowi and Risma are not far different in their style of leadership. They are both known
as leaders who don'€ ™t hesitate to conduct field inspections (blusukan). The two PDI-P
figures are also considered clean and care about the interests of ordinary people.

Daily confrontations and the city'€ ™s problems, nevertheless, have almost brought her to
her knees. Receiving threats from many vested groups, Risma hinted that she would
tender her resignation last month, especially after the installment of her new deputy,
Wisnu Sakti Buana, another PDI-P politician, whose appointment process she claimed to
be done illegally by the local city council.

In a recent interview on Metro TV'€ ™s Mata Najwa talk show, Risma refused to promise
that she would not resign despite her popularity among Surabaya residents.

'€ œI have given everything I have to Surabaya citizens, I have nothing more. I apologize
if it'€ ™s not enough,'€ • she said.

Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini. (JG Photo/Dhanis Rana)

Jakarta. An embattled Tri Rismaharini tearfully confirmed rumors that she planned to
step down as the mayor of Surabaya on Thursday, telling a crowd of supporters
gathered outside the mayor's office that she would vacate her post in protest of an
ongoing dispute with Indonesia's main opposition party.
"This morning I gathered all public agencies and working units to bid them farewell,"
Risma told the crowd, the Indonesian news portal Tempo.co reported on Thursday. "So
why do you [ask me to stay?] I don't know what to say."

The public has rallied behind Risma, expressing their support and urging the popular
mayor to remain in office. The hashtag #SaveRisma has received hundreds of tweets
and graced the cover of Tempo, Indonesia's most prominent investigative magazine,
above an illustration of Risma fighting to keep a massive bull — the symbol of the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) — at bay.

The mayor's supporters urged Risma to rethink her plans to step down. She addressed
the crowd, tears running down her face, on Thursday, and said that she couldn't make
any promises.

“This is not easy for me,” she said.

The nation's first directly elected female mayor is a figure widely seen as one of the few
beacons of hope in Indonesia's otherwise dismal political sphere. She first caught the
public's eye as a down-to-earth public official more at home with Surabaya's working
class than the city's elites. The mayor fought for populist programs during her tenure,
working to improve education, healthcare and public transit in a place once described
by Dutch poet Louis Couperus as a "dirty city full of pretensions and greed."

Risma was supported by the PDI-P during her successful 2010 campaign to head
Indonesia's second-largest city. But the relationship soon soured as Risma refused to
approve plans to construct a Rp 8 trillion ($680 million) toll road through Surabaya,
arguing that the city's residents shouldn't have to pay to use public infrastructure. The
Surabaya City Council pushed for a vote of no confidence in a failed attempt to oust the
mayor less than a year into her five-year term. The toll road, which was opposed by
local residents, was dead on the table. But the opposition to Risma's atypical approach
to leadership was far from over.

When Risma's deputy mayor Bambang Dwi Hartono left the position to mount a failed
bid for the East Java governor's seat, the PDI-P appointed its own choice as the new
deputy mayor: local PDI-P head Wisnu Sakti Buana, the then deputy speaker of the city
council and a vocal critic of Risma's more populist-minded decisions.

It took Wisnu weeks to meet with the mayor, only doing so during a Feb. 5 luncheon at
city hall where he reportedly petitioned for the construction of a hotel on top of an area
dedicated as green space. Risma denied the request, further inspiring anger among the
city's PDI-P politicians.

“It’s up to her whether she wanted to make it underground to make it invisible or up in

the skies, but most importantly the highway has to be made,” Wisma said, according to
Tempo Magazine. “If not, she might just as well just turn Surabaya from a city of
commerce to a tourist city.”
A later blowup over Risma's decision to raise the tax on billboard advertising brought
further ire from city council. The dispute, which some city officials argued was in
violation of a ministerial decree, eventually pulled Home Affairs Minister Gamawan
Fauzi into the fray. The minister sided with Risma in the controversy, backing the mayor
in her insistence on discouraging rampant advertising in the city of three million.

A series of exposes on the horror's of Surabaya's grim zoo threatened to taint the
public's perception of the mayor, despite the fact that the animals, like all endangered
species in Indonesia, were technically the property of the Ministry of Forestry and under
the central government's care. Risma has since seized control of the ailing zoo, but not
before years of neglect and corruption decimated the facilities animal population,
culminating in a long series of headline-grabbing deaths that continue to this day.

The public has remained behind Risma throughout the controversy as the mayor
continued to receive accolades over her commitment to free education and
healthcare. The City Mayor Foundation named Risma its "Mayor of the Month" in
February, applauding Risma for policies drafted during her short tenure.

But the PDI-P have seemingly turned on Risma, a move criticized as a political misstep
ahead of an important election. The mayor broke down in tears on Metro TV’s Mata
Najwa talk show, expressing that she wished to resign amid mounting pressure. The
interview fueled speculation that Risma would step down over the PDI-P's attempts to
meddle in her mayoral affairs.

The opposition party denied any efforts to oust the mayor, going as far as claiming that
there was an orchestrated conspiracy to turn the PDI-P against itself before the election
season. Earlier this week the party's executive board chairwoman Puan Maharani told
Risma to keep her emotions in check.

“As a part of the PDI-P family, Risma should be careful, she has to be able to control
her emotions and ambitions,” Puan said on Monday. “As a human being venting is
allowed, but please don’t worsen the situation."

Risma has been hinting for a week that she intended to resign. Earlier this month the
mayor told Tempo Magazine "I'm ready to leave this room," during an interview in her
office. She gave no clear indication on Thursday of when she planned to vacate her
post.