Tri Rismaharini is the current Mayor of Surabaya. Popularly known as Risma, she is both the first directly-elected and first female mayor in the city's history.
Education
She earned a bachelor's degree in Architecture and a master's degree in Urban Development Management from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya. She was awarded a doctoral degree from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember in 2015.
Career
Public service
Risma began her career as a public servant in Surabaya. Before being elected mayor, she served as a government employee in Surabaya City Government for more than 20 years, eventually becoming head of Surabaya's Program Controlling Division, and later head of Surabaya Landscape and Cleanliness Department. When Risma was first elected mayor in 2010, Surabaya, although rich in history, was a city neglected by previous governments. It was then described as a concrete dump. As mayor, Risma's policy has been to transform much of the city's vacant land and open spaces into public parks. There are now 11 major parks in Surabaya, all with different themes. Many parks also provide Wi-Fi access and include libraries, fitness and other sports facilities. The most prominent is the transformation of Bungkul Park, which has been recognized as a cross-culturally public-engaged park in Southeast Asia. Surabaya has also enlarged other open spaces such as cemeteries so that they serve as water absorption areas. The city has also added green lanes along main roads and created city forests. Risma's policies have been credited with reducing the severity and duration of floods, prompting calls for flood-prone Jakarta to emulate her policies. Risma gained popularity for her surprise visits to local public service offices, where she criticized officials for their poor and inefficient performances, accusing them of "sinning" against the public.
Awards
During her tenure, Surabaya has won a number of awards including the ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable City Award 2012 and the Adipura Kencana, the highest environmental awards in Indonesia. Mayor Risma was named as one of the 10 most inspiring women 2013 by Forbes Indonesia. She was also recently named one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine and was one of the top mayors listed last year by the City Mayors Foundation, an urban research institute. March 2016, she was awarded Ideal Mother Award 2016, at Cairo University, given by Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
In April 2014, Risma and an entourage of six Surabaya officials flew to London to accept the so-called United Europe Award from the Europe Business Assembly, an organization which sells vanity awards. On 20 April 2014, Risma led a procession of eight open-air jeeps through Surabaya to show off the award, which officials described as a Socrates Award. Risma denied purchasing the award, explaining her side had merely paid a £4,000 participation fee.
Controversies
Risma's policy of closing down brothels has been criticized by aid and health care workers as ineffective, and doing nothing to eliminate the sex trade. Her critics add that making prostitution illegal forces many sex workers to work in conditions that are more dangerous and unregulated, and therefore more at risk from diseases. Her reforms have wide support in Indonesia, though. In January 2020, Risma filed a police report against Zikria Dzatil, a woman in Bogor, West Java, for comparing her to a female frog in a Facebook post. “If I am a frog, that means my mother is a frog,” Risma said. Police responded by arresting Zikara on 31 January for allegedly violating the Electronic Information and Transactions Law. The following month, Risma withdrew the police report after Zikara apologized.
