The Maria Hertogh riots, which started on 11 December 1950 in Singapore, consisted of outraged Muslims who resented the court decision to give custody of Maria Hertogh ,then 13, to her biological Dutch Catholic parents after she had been raised as a Muslim under the care of Aminah binte Mohamed, whom she regarded as her mother. The riots lasted till noon on 13 December, with 18 killed, 173 injured and many properties damaged. Malayan nationalists still made use of this riot to weaken the colonial government’s position in the region.

How Maria Hertogh Riots start?

Prior to the riots, the disputed custody of Maria had received widespread press coverage. Many Muslims living in Malaya and Indonesia believed in the legitimacy of the adoption of Maria and a later short-lived marriage to Mansoor Adabi, two major points of contest in the court proceeding to determine the custody of Maria. They thus lent their support, financial and moral, to organizations that fought to keep Maria in Malaya. But some, such as the Malayan nationalists, seized the incident as an opportunity to further weaken the colonial government's position in the region. The insensitivity of the colonial government towards Muslim sentiments and the involvement of radical elements eventually culminated in the tragedy.