Excerpts from Newspaper Articles on the Maria Hertogh Case in 1950

May 20 Malay woman to 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 Consul-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)."

July 29 Aminah wins in appeal court

THE FULL COURT of Appeal in Singapore yesterday decided that Maria Hertogh shall be given back to her foster-mother, Che Aminah.

The Appeal Court yesterday held that the proceedings before the Chief Justice, were by reason of the non-service of the necessary parties, a nullity.

When she heard that Maria would be returned to her, Aminah broke down and wept openly. But they were tears of joy. Hugging and kissing Maria, she said brokenly: "I have never been so happy in my life."

Stumbling a little as she came out of the Court of Appeal, she shook hands almost convulsively, with friends and well-wishers who were waiting outside. Nearly everybody has one moment of supreme happiness. Yesterday was Aminah's day.

July 29 Father is 'perplexed'

IN BERGEN-OP-ZOOM (Holland), last night Ex-Sergeant De Hertogh said he was "most perplexed" when he heard of the Singapore court's decision. "I do not see how it is possible for the court to keep our child away from us," he told Reuter. "If necessary I am prepared to go to Singapore to get her back."

July 30 Maria has special Hari Raya

IT WAS HARI RAYA all over again in a little shophouse in Rangoon Road, Singapore, yesterday as 14-year-old Nadra binte Ma'arof, better known as Maria Huberdina Hertogh, spent her first day home again with her foster-mother Che Aminah.

"Don't ever call me Maria," Nadra chided me when I chatted with her. "I've done with the Hertogh family and my real Muslim name is Nadra."

On Friday night Nadra slept with Che Aminah in the same bed a thing she had not done for the past three months ever since she was taken to live in the York Hill Home. There was a big kenduri (feast) in honour of Nadra at the home of Mr M. A. Majid, president of the Muslim Welfare Association, where the couple are now staying.

Nadra told me: "I cried for three days and nights at York Hill a fortnight ago when Hari Raya Puasa was celebrated.

"I pleaded with the matron to let me go home to mother for Hari Raya but permission was never given.

"Mother came to see me on Saturday (Hari Raya eve) on the usual visitors' day. She brought me cakes and jellies for Hari Raya, but when the big day came, the following morning, I just couldn't help it, I cried and cried my heart out. I so wanted to go home to her."

When I showed Nadra a cable from her father in Bergen-op-Zoom, Holland, (Ex-Sergeant De Hertogh) who said: "I am prepared to go to Singapore myself if necessary to get her back," Maria clutched Che Aminah and hotly retorted: "I don't recognise anybody as my parents except Che Aminah.

"It is useless for him to come to Singapore because I shall definitely refuse to go back to Holland."

Aug 3 Maria marries Malay teacher

MARIA BERTHA HERTOGH, 13-year-old Dutch girl, was married according to Muslim rites on Tuesday night to a 22-year-old teacher in a Government English school, Inche Mansoor Adabi.

The marriage took place within four days of Bertha's return to her foster-mother, Che Aminah binte Mohamed.

"It was love at first sight," said the newly-weds last night when they were seen at the house of Mr M.A. Majid, president of the Muslim Welfare Association, their temporary home.

Inche Mansoor Adabi, a Kelantan youth, is a teacher at the Bukit Panjang Government School to which he was transferred in January this year.

"This is all very embarrassing," he said last night. "The wedding was a secret; I never even told my best friends."

Che Aminah said, "Nadra (the girl's Muslim name) is like a diamond to me, but I am happy now that she is married to the man she wants."

But, she said, yesterday afternoon a letter arrived for her from a firm of lawyers, in Kuala Lumpur.

It said that the firm was now acting as solicitors for Mr and Mrs A.P. Hertogh, Nadra's parents who are still in Holland.

It declared that it was no longer "the wish" of the parents that Bertha should continue in her custody.

The letter continued, "We now make formal demand that you deliver possession of the child to Mr J. van der Gaag (acting Netherlands Consul-General) so that he can return her to them in Holland."

Che Aminah said, "This letter has been upsetting, but I will take it to my solicitor tomorrow. I hope after this marriage there will be no more trouble."

Inche Mansoor Adabi's mother, Che Wok Adabi, is an old friend of Che Aminah. When Nadra was sent to York Hill home, Che Wok Adabi comforted Che Aminah. Then one day, 11 months ago, Inche Mansoor himself visited Nadra at York Hill.

"I felt something stir within me," said Inche Mansoor. "Then I went with Che Aminah when Nadra left the Home." Sometime on Monday, he proposed to her. She accepted him.

Maria said shyly, "He is my teacher, too," speaking of her husband.

Speaking of her parents, she said, "Why do they still want me? They have many other children to worry about."

Her plans? To go first to Kemaman, in Trengganu, where she had lived for such a long time with Che Aminah during the Japanese occupation. She had friends she wished to see.

Then back to Singapore, to study English, particularly, and the Muslim religion.

Her husband, who was born in Kota Bahru, received his early education in Kelantan, then after the war joined Victoria School, in Singapore.

Two years ago, he decided on a teaching career.

Aug 5 Parents say marriage to Maria 'illegal'

MARIA HERTOGH'S HUSBAND, Inche Mansoor Adabi, has received a letter from solicitors representing her parents, asking him to give the girl into the custody of the Dutch Consul-General before Aug 10, failing which action will be taken against him.

This letter, received yesterday, is understood to describe the marriage as "illegal". The letter says that Maria was born on March 24, 1937, baptised on April 10 the same year, and was a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Inche Mansoor told The Straits Times yesterday that Maria was "a Muslim woman now".

She had married him willingly and "so no one can claim her either as their child or relative".

He added that Maria's identity card, issued at Trengganu on Feb. 23 last year, recorded her age as 13 on that date. He added that he was not perturbed by the solicitors' letter.

Maria herself, still living in the house of Mr. M.A. Majid, said: "I will not go to any country outside Malaya. It is no use Mr Hertogh trying to separate me from my husband.

Nov 10 Maria: I won't see Mum

MARIA HERTOGH, THE 13-year-old Dutch girl who married Inche Mansoor Adabi, a Malay school teacher, in Singapore in August will refuse to see her mother except when the case to decide her case comes up for hearing.

"I know she will be arriving in Singapore on Monday so that she can give evidence, but I do not wish to see the mother who has caused me so much unhappiness," said Maria yesterday.

Nov 15 Mum: When she sees me, she will come

WHEN I SAW Mrs Adeline Hertogh after her arrival by air yesterday she kept saying, "Bertha is my child. If I see her, even for a moment, I will want to keep her. Ask any mother what she would think about losing a child."

I asked her if she thought Bertha had changed very much in the eight years since she had seen her. "No," was the emphatic reply.

From her photographs she looks just the same little girl I knew, she said.

"But why have they done her hair up like that to make her look so old?"

The news had already been broken to her that Bertha had said she did not want her mother. "When she sees me, and when I talk to her, she will come," was the confident reply.

Nov 16 Weeping mother is told: 'I have made my choice'

AFTER EIGHT YEARS' separation, Mrs Adeline Hertogh and her 13-year-old daughter, Bertha Maria, met in Mr M. A. Majid's house in Rangoon Road, Singapore, yesterday morning. Shaking with emotion, Mrs Hertogh shook hands with Che Aminah, when she arrived at the house and was led into the sitting room.

"Why do you keep on fighting?" asked Che Aminah. "You gave your child to me to adopt as my own daughter."

Mrs Hertogh replied she had only asked Aminah to look after Maria during the war. Her eyes searched the room. She kept on saying: "Where is my daughter?"

Che Aminah went into her bedroom and called Maria, saying that "Adeline" was here to see her. After a few minutes Maria came out hesitantly and sat down with the others at the table.

"Why did you say you did not want to see me?" scolded Mrs Hertogh, mother-like.

Maria replied: "I am not going away from here where my husband is. Why have you come? I have had enough trouble."

They argued together in Malay. Che Aminah sat between them at the table.

Mrs Hertogh added, "Whatever may be the difficulties," she said, "I will stay here and overcome them until I can take you back to your father and brothers and sisters in Holland."

Dry-eyed, Maria told her mother not to bother her any more. "If my parents love me," she said, "they should leave me where I am. Besides I cannot love you, because when I was a child you gave me away."

Mrs Hertogh explained what had happened in the past and again pleaded that Maria should come back with her to her family.

Maria said a firm "No" to all appeals.

"I am a Muslim, I have made my choice and I will stay with my husband now until we die".

At the end, when Mrs Hertogh wanted to kiss her, Maria turned away and buried her face in Che Aminah's back. Mrs Hertogh ran from the room, crying.

Nov 21 Battle begins for Maria

MARIA HERTOGH AND her mother, Mrs A. P. Hertogh, sat within a few feet of each other for four hours in the Singapore High Court yesterday, but neither looked at the other.

It was the first day of the case which has aroused world-wide interest and which will determine whether the Dutch girl, Maria, is to return with her mother to Holland or stay in Malaya with her husband, Inche Mansoor Adabi and with her foster-mother Che Aminah.

All the human hopes, the conflicting distress of mother, daughter, and foster-mother, were veiled in fine legal points as Mr E. D. Shearn, appearing for Mr and Mrs Hertogh, began his case before Mr Justice Brown.

The affidavit of Mrs Hertogh stated that Maria was born at Tjimahi, Java, on March 24, 1937, and that she is a Dutch subject.

Her husband was then serving with the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and was and is a Dutch subject. Maria was baptised on April 10, 1937.

On the Japanese occupation of Java in March 1942, her husband became a prisoner of war.

In the course of 1942, her mother, Mrs Hunter, who was at that time living with them, met an old acquaintance from Singapore, Aminah binte Mohamed who, to the best of their knowledge and belief, was the wife of a Mr. Maroef from whom she had been divorced.

Mrs Maroef, who was childless herself, showed great interest in the Hertogh children and asked whether one of them could be allowed to stay with her, but this was refused.

Some time later, Mrs Hertogh's affidavit went on, on Dec. 29, 1942, she yielded and allowed her third child, Maria, to go and stay with Che Aminah in Bandoeng for three days. Che Aminah had promised to bring the child back after three days.

When the child did not come back, Mrs Hertogh borrowed a bicycle to go and fetch the child, but on her way she was arrested by the Japanese and interned.

From there she had smuggled a letter to her mother requesting her to send the children to her. When it was evident that Maria was not with them, she asked her mother to fetch her from Mrs Maroef's in Bandoeng. Her mother wrote and told her that Che Aminah had told her that she wanted to keep the child for two days more and that she herself would bring the child to the camp.

This never happened and Mrs Hertogh said she had been told by her mother that when she again went to Mrs Maroef's house she found the place empty and Mrs Maroef and the child away. During the whole of her internment, Mrs Hertogh said, she had not seen Maria.

She was released after the surrender and Che Aminah and Maria were not to be found, despite all endeavours made by her and her husband, and they were repatriated to Holland without Maria.

Eventually in September 1949 it was ascertained that Che Aminah was living in Kemaman in Trengganu and that Maria was with her.

Mrs Hertogh said that she did not give, nor did her husband authorise the giving of Maria to Che Aminah to be adopted by her.

Nov 23 Marriage 'can't be nullified'

"THIS COURT HAS no jurisdiction to entertain a suit for the declaration of nullity of the marriage," Mr John Eber, counsel for Inche Mansoor Adabi, told Mr Justice Brown yesterday. Mr Eber read the affidavit of Che Aminah which said that she entirely disagreed with the version given by Mrs Hertogh of how Maria came into her custody.

In 1942, Mrs Hertogh had suggested that as she (Che Aminah) had no children and as she had so many, she would like Che Aminah to have one of them.

Mrs Hertogh said that if Che Aminah took one of her children she could treat her absolutely as her own child and take her where ever she went.

Mrs Hertogh told her that as far as her husband was concerned, she did not know whether he was alive or dead and in any case she would answer to him for having given the child to her.

Che Aminah said she told Mrs Hertogh that she would like to take Maria and bring her up in the Muslim faith. Mrs Hertogh replied that she was glad because she herself was brought up as Muslim.

Some days later Mrs Hertogh gave her Maria and she took her to her house. Soelwaldi, Mrs Hertogh's brother, gave her a certificate of adoption.

Mrs Hertogh and Che Aminah continued to visit each other frequently.

Sometime late in 1942 or the beginning of 1943, Maria was circumcised according to Mohammedan faith.

About the end of 1943 or the beginning of 1944, Mrs Hertogh went to Sourabaya to get a job and that was the last she saw of her until recently.

At no time during the three years after Maria came to her house had either Mrs Hertogh or her mother requested her to give Maria back or to cease treating her as her own child.

About the middle of 1947 after Maria had attained puberty, Che Aminah said she was present when she recited the verse from the Koran which is known as Kalima Shehadat. Any girl who had attained puberty and recited those words was a Mohammedan according to Mohammedan faith.

Che Aminah's affidavit said that she was born of a very respected Malay family in Kemaman and she was married to an Indonesian businessman named Inche Maroef for 14 years. She possessed adequate means to support Maria should she be given her custody.

If the marriage between Maria and Mansoor Adabi was declared null and void, she wished Maria to be given into her custody.

Dec 2 Judgement today

MR. JUSTICE BROWN will deliver judgement today in the High Court in the Maria Hertogh case. The hearing lasted five days and ended on Nov. 24.

Dec 3 Maria goes to parents; marriage declared invalid

A TENSE, CROWDED Singapore court yesterday heard Mr Justice Brown order the return of 13-year-old Maria Huberdina Hertogh to the custody of her mother, Mrs Adeline Hertogh.

In a 24-page judgement, which took 45 minutes to read, His Lordship characterised the marriage of Maria to schoolteacher Inche Mansoor Adabi on Aug. 1 this year as "a manoeuvre designed to prejudice these proceedings".

His Lordship declared that the purported marriage was invalid.

Saying that he had no reason to disbelieve Maria's statement that she and Inche Adabi had been "mutually attracted" to each other, His Lordship said:

"But it was just this 'attraction' which made this manoeuvre possible.

"And what is to be said of people who will allow an attraction, which is formed by a child of

13, for a man whom she has scarcely met, to be used as the basis of a manoeuvre which within the space of three days causes her to become his wife?

"From my observation of Che Aminah, I am unable to resist the impression that she was persuaded to agree to this discreditable manoeuvre by some other person, in whose mind the idea of it was conceived.

"It seems to me that in the present case, as the father has never abrogated his legal right or consented to his child embracing the Muslim faith, she cannot in law be regarded as a Mohammedan. I hold that the purported marriage is invalid.

"I now come to the final and most difficult question in this case of who is to have the custody of the child," said His Lordship.

"I am satisfied that it would not be to her interests to leave her in the custody of the third defendant (Mansoor Adabi).

"Except for the two visits to the York Hill Home, he first appeared on the scene as one of the parties to a discreditable manoeuvre, which resulted within three days in an invalid marriage with a child of 13.

"Apart from the fact that I am satisfied that it would not be in her interests to leave her in his custody, it seems to me that such a course would be entirely derogatory to the sanctity of Mohammedan marriage."

Referring to the father, Mr. Hertogh, His Lordship said:

"Whatever may be the truth of the events which occurred at the end of the year 1942, it is clear that he took no part in them. He was then a prisoner of war in the hands of the Japanese.

"And whether he was deprived of his child through the voluntary act of her mother or through the unscrupulous conduct of Che Aminah, it is clear that he was never consulted, has never at any time consented, and that no fault or blame, indifference or neglect, can be attached to him."

His Lordship then dwelt with the question of who was to have custody of the child and went on:

"As the child is 13 years of age, I thought it right to see her in my chambers and to satisfy myself concerning her wishes. I am satisfied that it is her desire to remain in this country and to continue in the Muslim faith.

"I am also satisfied that she has a real devotion for her foster-mother, Che Aminah.

"It is natural that she should now wish to remain in Malaya among people whom she knows. But who can say that she will have the same views some years hence, after her outlook has been enlarged and her contacts extended, in the life of her family to which she belongs?

"And can it be for her general well-being in life to deny her such experience and the

opportunities that go with it, and to continue the unnatural separation from her father and mother and her family whom she has had no means of knowing since she was five years old?

"Secondly, it is clear from the authorities that the father has a legal right to bring up his child in the way he thinks best for her welfare.

"Upon what ground am I to deprive him of a right which the law gives him? And I am satisfied that if I refuse him the relief which he claims, I should be acting contrary to the established principles of the law which it is my duty to administer."

Dec 3 Maria with nuns; Aminah collapses at parting

MARIA HERTOGH SLEPT last night in a room in the Girls' Home of the Convent of the Good Shepherd, in Thomson Road, Singapore. Maria's re-education will begin at the Home straight away.

Mrs A.P. Hertogh, Maria's mother, said yesterday that she was "exceedingly happy". She added: "I am sure my husband and I and the other children will be able to make her feel at home in Holland in a very short time. She will feel strange at first, of course, but it will not be for long."

In his home in Kelantan House, Rowell Road, Inche Mansoor Adabi, depressed, said, "I cannot express in words what I feel but I know that Nadra will remain faithful to me."

In her new and temporary home in the Convent, Maria, red-eyed and still in her Malay costume, shook her brown head with despair and merely asked, "How is my foster-mother?"

Che Aminah, her foster-mother, since 1942, was in a collapsed state in Kelantan House.

She kept on crying for "Nadra".

Dec 4 Maria a little girl again

MARIA BERTHA HERTOGH, whose separation from her parents and marriage made world headlines, is a little girl again.

Yesterday in the Convent Girls' Home in Thomson Road I saw a little girl in a short white dress, her brown hair in two plaits to her shoulders, running hand in hand with a friend.

"Bertha!" cried another girl. The girl with the pigtails turned round. It was Maria. Phyllis is Maria's first friend in her new life. On Saturday night she sang her to sleep.

Dec 5 Shows interest in family

MARIA BERTHA HERTOGH has shown interest in photographs of her father, brothers and sisters, "and has already asked many questions about them," her mother, Mrs Adeline Hertogh, told me yesterday.

As a schoolgirl, she had her first piano and English lesson yesterday.

Mother St. Columba, who is her piano teacher, said, "Bertha has a remarkably good ear for music."

I heard Bertha play the familiar tune "Chopsticks". She seemed self-possessed and engrossed with her new accomplishment, and she smiled swiftly and shyly as she looked up from the keyboard for approval.

Dec 14 Maria in Calcutta

MARIA AND HER mother, Adeline Hertogh, passed through Calcutta this afternoon on the way to Holland from Singapore. Armed police guarded the plane and strong security measures prevented reporters from entering.

Maria and her mother left Singapore secretly on Tuesday afternoon in a plane specially diverted from its normal route.

They are expected in Holland either today or tomorrow.

They were sent on Monday to St. John's Island from the Girls' Home of the Convent of the Good Shepherd; and travelled to Kallang airport by launch. They were taken from the flying boat jetty to the airport building under strong armed escort.