#2- Part 2- How Religious Issues could divide the people What were the events that led to the Maria Hertogh riots?

Maria Hertogh was born in 1937 to a Dutch Catholic family, who were living in Bandung, Java which was then a part of the Dutch East Indies. When the World War II broke out, her father, Sergeant Hertogh was captured by the Imperial Japanese army and sent to a Prisoner Of War holding facility in Japan, where he stayed till the end of the war. Meanwhile, his wife, Adeline Hertogh had stayed with her mother, Nor Louise, and her five children.

Maria was the third child, and the youngest daughter. Three days after her mother had given birth to another son, Maria went to stay with Aminah Binte Mohammad, a 42-year-old woman who was a close friend of Nor Louise.
According to Adeline Hertogh, when she had given her testimony in the court battle for Maria in November 1950, Adeline had allowed Maria to stay with Aminah for three to four days by her mother. Aminah had collected Maria on the New Year’s day in 1943. When Maria was not returned to her, Mrs. Hertogh had borrowed a bicycle to go and collect her daughter personally. She claimed that she was arrested by a Japanese sentry at the outskirts of Bandung, for she did not possess a pass and was therefore interned. In her interment camp, she managed to smuggle a letter to her mother, requesting to see her children. Nor Louise had done so, but Maria was not among the children sent. Mrs. Hertogh then asked her mother to collect Maria on her behalf. Her mother had replied saying that Aminah would keep Maria for 2 more days, before sending her to the camp personally.
However, this did not occur and Mrs. Hertogh did not see Maria during her internment. Upon her release, she was unable to find Maria or Aminah. However, Aminah’s testimony differs from Adeline Hertogh’s testimony. Aminah claimed that Mrs. Hertogh had given Maria up for adoption to her. She had assured Mrs. Hertogh that she would treat Maria as her own child, and that Maria would be raised in Muslim faith. This was apparently not a problem as Adeline Hertogh was also raised in Muslim faith. Aminah’s testimony had also contested Mrs. Hertogh’s internment with the Japanese army. Aminah claimed that Mrs. Hertogh and her had remained in contact until Mrs. Hertogh had left for Surabaya, “at the end of 1943 or the beginning of 1944”, after of which the two had never seen each other again. Maria Hertogh had her cicumcision in late 1943, where she was given the name Nadra. Her family, for unknown reasons, had opted to move to Jakarta for a period , then returning to Bandung, where Aminah worked for the Japanese police as an interpreter, until the end of the war.

In 1947, in fears of the Indonesian National Revolution for Maria as Maria was a “white child”, Aminah moved the family to her hometown of Kenaman, in Teregganu state, than called Malaya. By then Maria was the same as other Muslim girls. At the end of the war, Maria’s father, Sergeant Hertogh was released, and he returned to Java, where he reunited with his wife . They, being unable to find Maria on their own, had requested Dutch authorities in South East Asia to try to locate their child. They traced Maria and Aminah to the Kampong where they lived in.

In 1949, Adeline Hertogh came to claim her daughter back. Maria’s case was brought to the High Court in Singapore, and she was placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department. In May 1950, the court had ruled that Maria was to be returned to her parents, but Aminah had sent an appeal . The Court had found a small but significant technical detail wrong. The court then ruled that Maria to be returned to Aminah. On 1st august 1950, Maria had married a 22- year-old Mansoor Adabi, a malay teacher, when she was only 13-years-old. This marriage is assumed to be a maneuver by Aminah to prevent the Court and the Hertoghs from getting Maria back, as Maria had returned to Maria after the Wedding Night, and the couple never consummated. In November 1950, the battle for custody continued- The court had Maria returned to her parents. The Judge had stated that the Dutch Law did not recognize Maria’s marriage as she was underage, and her natural father’s consent had not been given. It was this that had antagonized the Muslim Community- They felt that the Muslim Law had not been considered. Maria was sent to the care of a Catholic Convent. This move was supposed to make things of greater convenience to everyone- however was the spark to the riots. The media was permitted to enter the convent, which had painted the controversial to the public- Maria was taken to be lonely and sad, being comforted by a nun- but another picture showed her having knelt at the Virgin Mary’s feet.

It was this, that had truly started the Maria Hertogh riots. Aminah had, once again, appealed, but this time it was rejected only after 5 minutes. The crowd of 3’000 that had gathered outside the Padang for the verdict felt betrayed by the British for having taken sides with the Dutch, the supporters of Aminah began to riot. Every European and Eurasian in sight was attacked. The riots had continued for 3 days, and a curfew was imposed for 2 weeks. 18 people were killed and 173 were injured.


[What were the consequences of the riots?]
Many people in Singapore had lost faith in their colonial masters- they felt that the law of the local religion was not respected, and that their colonial masters had, instead of allowing Maria her decision of staying with Aminah, had chosen to “pamper” the Dutch and sided with them just to keep the peace between the two countries- and causing riots in another as the price. The riots were clearly an expression of anti-British feelings.
[What were the lessons learnt from the riots?]
The Lessons learnt- Firstly , that all facets of the case should be considered before making a rash decision. In this scenario, the High Court had made too many rash indecisions, and had not considered the general public’s point if view.

Secondly, it was clear that the Court had not considered the reactions that the decision to declare that they did not take the Muslim Law into account, and by doing so, Muslim were easily antagonized into thinking that the British were “racist” in a way to them. So, the second lesson would be to respect every religion’s rules, and try to apply them in the usual laws. This is especially important in Singapore, as Singapore is Multi-racial, and has many different cultures and religions here.

[Why do people react sensitively to religious issues?]
I believe that most people are sensitive to religious issues for one main reason- Faith. As many people will have many different beliefs, most of the time the beliefs will collide and conflicts occur. Belief comes from History, in a way- Our modern beliefs have rich history- on when the ‘saint’ was born. What his life story was, what he did that made him great, were all recorded. But no one is able to verify and conclude that this version of his life is the truth. Why? History is always written by the winners. History can be edited by greedy minds who want to supposedly be connected to the ‘Saint’, or by people who want to show people that their theory is right. History may not always be what really happened. Back to the subject- As beliefs come from History, and the different theories collide, no one can truly say that even the beliefs were not, at one time, NOT edited. For all we know, anything is possible. Due to the different beliefs, people are also unwilling to accept any other than the one they were raised to believe in. This makes people even more agitated when the belief itself is under question. I am a Buddhist, from my parents. If you were to tell me that Buddha did not exist at all, and that history was always wrong, even I would be skeptical. [ This is not possible though, as there are many records of his ministeries. ] Who am I to say others would not? If I was to say that Jesus did not exist, people would not believe what i said, even for a second- they have faith in their belief which they were raised in, and no one would be able to change it. A case study of my own that I like to point out –

The Da Vinci Code- an international bestseller, that ahs raised eyebrows with it’s controversial ideas. Having read the Da Vinci Code, I have only so much to say- all the ‘facts’ in the Da Vinci Code may not be accurate, but I do believe that Jesus had a wife- every man has a right hand woman, no? As much I want to believe that Jesus had a family, most likely that theory is wrong- I just want to believe that then in the ancient times, and now in the modern times, that women have an equal footing in society with men. I guess I am a feminist… in fact the only story I hate in the bible is Genesis- Why did Eve have to eat the apple, and cause the concept of 'original sin'? And just how did god make a woman from a man? I end my reflection, with my main point as my ending- Religious issues are sensitive to humans, as we believe that our faith, which we were raised to believe in, the belief of our fathers, is the ‘truth’, for we are unable to accept that our faith may be wrong, which is why FAITH, in the end is what really makes our heart fear the unknown, which is ironic, as there is so much about faith that is unknown.

CREDITS!!!
Most of the INFORMATION i used here is from Wikipedia, and from my Secondary Two Text book. Kudos to the people who wrote it. +) PLUS! Here is a link to the criticism from people who disliked Da Vinci Code, though it's fun to read now and then. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_The_Da_Vinci_Code

[AbiGaiL SenG- 3-10. +) i checked it personally. But PLEASE if any grammar errors, inform me.& One MORE thing! This was written on my Macbook, so it's american english. ]