December
11, 1950
Dutch Jungle Girl Riots
The Maria Hertogh riots
broke out in Singapore when Muslims protested the return of a 13-year-old girl
to her parents in her native land of the Netherlands. Maria's parents, both of
the Roman Catholic faith, had been imprisoned by Japanese occupying forces
during World War II.
Maria was raised by Che Aminah and Mansoor
Adabi, a Muslim couple in Bandung in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
After the Hertoghs located their daughter, now renamed Nadra, Adeline Hertogh
went to court in Singapore and was awarded custody on December 2 as the British
colonial court in Singapore applied Netherlands law.
The case of the "Dutch
jungle girl" made headlines worldwide. Singapore's Muslim community sided
with Che and Aminah, who had fought to
keep Maria. From December 3 to December 7, English and Malaysian newspapers
inflamed the situation by publishing photographs of Maria at the Christian
Convent of the Good Shepherd. In three days of rioting, 18 people were killed,
173 injured and more than 500 arrested. Maria and her mother were flown to the
Netherlands on December 12.
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