Maria Hertogh Riots

SOURCE A: Maria Hertogh and Aminah

FOR decades, a black and white photo of 13-year-old Dutch girl Maria Hertogh clutching the waist of her Muslim foster mother has captured the imagination of thousands here.

In it, Aminah Mohamed stands aghast at the Supreme Court during a custody battle with the teenager's Dutch-Catholic biological parents in a case that went on to spark riots that left 18 people dead.

Shot on May 19, 1950 by a Straits Times photographer, the image has been reproduced in many history texts.

SOURCE B: May 20 Malay woman lose Dutch ‘daughter’

THE SINGAPORE CHIEF JUSTICE, Mr. Justice Murray- Aynsley, yesterday ordered that a 13-year-old Dutch girl who has lived for eight years with a Malay woman in Java and Malaya should be given into the care of the Netherlands Coundul-General who, it is understood, will return her to her parents in Holland.

After the decision, the girl, Maria Huberdina Hertogh, and Aminah, the Malay woman, clung to each other for almost an hour outside the Supreme Court. They declined to enter a waiting car, sobbed and vowed they would not be parted. With tears streaming  down her face, Maria shouted in Malay (the only language she can speak):” Aminah is my mother. She has loved me, cared for me and brought me up.”

Then looking at Aminah, the girl said,” Do you love me, mother? If you love me don’t leave me. I don’t want to go with this man (a Dutch consular official).”

SOURCE C: Description by S R Nathan

On the day the riots broke out, I went as usual to the Institute of Commerce as our classes usually started at about 6pm. But when we reached the school, we were told to go home because of the disturbances. So I went to the nearby Green Bus terminal at Queen Street to take a bus back to Johor Baru.

The bus terminal and surroundings were almost deserted, with people rushing in a hurry to leave. Political activists played a major role in the agitation over the High Court judgment and Maria's stay in the convent. The leading figure was Karim Ghani, an Indian Muslim community leader with a history of political activism in Burma and Malaya. He came to Malaya during the war and became the information minister of the 'Indian independence government of Subhas Chandra Bose' who aimed to liberate India from British rule.

(By S R Nathan, Published The Straits Times, 21 Mar 2012)

SOURCE D: Description by S R Nathan in The Straits Times

In Singapore, Karim Ghani was the editor of a Tamil daily newspaper, Malaya Nanban, which ran strongly worded articles over the Hertogh issue. He was also editor of an English-language weekly, Dawn. There were also critical articles and editorials on the Hertogh case in the daily Jawi newspaper, the Melayu Raya.

Unrestrained and explosive press coverage of the issue by both the English-language and Malay/Muslim press aroused strong emotions among the Muslims. The Singapore Standard, for instance, published a picture of Maria holding hands with the Reverend Mother of the convent and an article stating that Maria had knelt before a Virgin Mary statue. Melayu Raya on its part published articles which portrayed the Hertogh case as a religious issue between Islam and Christianity.

(A newspaper report in The Strait Times)

SOURCE E: A hsitorical account by Mr. Neo, who had witnessed the riots.

As Mr Neo did not witness the riots himself, the mass media provided a major source of information for him. Mr Neo, being fluent in both Malay and English said in his interview that the newspaper that he read, the Malay papers and English papers both showed favoritism towards their own race and religions. “The headlines were very shocking. One of it that I particularly remember was from the English papers about Maria smiling and kneeling in front of the statue of Virgin Mary. They always reported a happy Maria. The Malay papers, however, always reported an abused Maria.” (Transcript) The papers were always reporting about different behaviour of Maria Hertogh.

(What Mr. Neo remembered form the riots, who had witnessed the riots took place.)

SOURCE F:  President Nathan Reflection

I WAS 26 years old when the Maria Hertogh riots erupted in December 1950.

On the day the riots broke out, Karim Ghani had published an open letter to the judges in the English language, asking to postpone judgment on the case. Karim Ghani declared that he was prepared to be hauled up for contempt of court or be expelled or detained. The letter was forcefully argued and a very emotional challenge to the judges.

The controversy and open defiance stirred up a lot of emotions on the ground and aroused strong anti-Dutch and anti- British feelings among the Muslims. The Dutch government was prominent and actively involved in the case, with the British seen as helping the Dutch. There was also sympathy for (Maria's adoptive mother) Cik Aminah, because she had taken care of the child since the Japanese Occupation, until the case was brought up in court for Maria's return to her Dutch parents.

SOURCE G: A historical account by a victim in the Maria Hertogh riot.

Gashing wounds and cut lips, swollen eyes and uniforms tainted with blood. Young and old were wailing at the gruesome sight, especially the women. The men were raged and crying out words of unhappiness such “ Foul play! Foul play! We are innocent! What have we done to deserve this? Why would they hurt their own kind?”

SOURCE H: Actions taken by the British Government towards Maria Hertogh case.

It is pertinent to note here that, aside from providing updates on the progress of the Malayan Emergency, the British media seldom gave extensive coverage of incidents of violence in Malaya during the immediate post-war period. Teh aftermath of the Maria Hertogh riots was exceptional in the sense that it became a topic of debate for several leading newspaper in Britain. The Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph featured the riots as a symptom of the Labour government’s growing ineptness in managing racial and religious differences in the colonies.  The Manchester Guardian went so far as to aver that the colonial administration in Singapore would never secure Malay support and that the post-war governments in both Britain and the colonies were rife with defects. A Singapore Standard editorial declared that the whole episode was a “blunder” that revealed an apparent lack of ability on the part of the colonial government to identify and address the outstanding socio-political grievances in the colony. To be sure, such popular criticism of British administrative failures in the colonies was characteristics of the years following the Second World War. Frederick Cooper observes that colonial regimes “in the 1950s were moving targets for criticism, for they sought to reposition themselves in a progress-oriented world”.