natrah

i think, some of (the older) dutch people can read malay..but i doubt it. and, since the text is too small or blurry so i just translate a bit of it.

the story is about maria hertogh, a dutch girl who has been given by his mother, adeline, and his grandmother, nor loisenya to che aminah to be raised without the acknowledgement of her father sergeant adrianus pertus hertogh.

she was raised by che aminah who is malay & therefore muslim. so shes being raised in islamic environment eversince.

but, soon after her father was freed from a japan detention camp after the atom bombs being dropped on the cities of hiroshima & nagasaki by the us in WWII, he returned to bandung, java to search for his daughter (which was at that time, in terengganu, malaysia).

meanwhile, in high school, natrah joined a sport competition to represent her school, Sekolah Menengeh Chukai terengganu/ Chukai High School . turn out the event was also being watched by a british officer, arthurlocke.

her group won at the time, so it became twice as visible that she's --'different'. that was the first time arthurlocke see her, and he has this feeling that something must be wrong .. why is that a malay family rasing a foreigner/make her part of the family. so he find a way to executed what he has planned.

with the help of some people, arturlocke been able to tracked che aminah. he then persuaded che aminah and claimed that he can help her to get a legal custody of natrah. he said that the issue only can be settle if she bring along natrah to singapore, because at that particular time singapore is under dutch. so its easier

without further thinking, che aminah agreed and when they arived at singapore she realize that was just a hoax. not helping (and doing quite the opposite), arthurlocke with the help of some dutch officers in singapore managed to get a court letter to prevent natrah from returning home (which the power to do so is not valid if natrah is in terengganu.)

so, natrah was taken from che aminah and was put in girl homes trust centre, york hill, singapore which is a catholic shelter.

however, on 19 july 1950, che aminah who represent by a lawyer named ibrahim, win the custody and was given back the custody

this event made the real parents of natrah unsatistfied. so they find a way to get some help from dutch government to take natrah back.

because che aminah didnt want the same exact thing happen again, natrah , in a nick of time, got married with a teacher, in singapore. natrah at that time was 13 & mansoor was 22, fell in love after their second meet. in islamic law, a 13 yo women is allowed to be married. it was believed that the ceremony was to prevent natrah from being sentenced once again in singapore.

but another thing happened, under dutch/british law it was illegal to be married if youre under 18. so they accused che aminah for forcing natrah /how can only after their second met they've decided to get married. eventhough at that time natrah repeatedly emphasized & told the court that she want to get married by herself & choosing islam as her religion, but the judge didnt sensitive enough to adressed the issue. so, natrah was given to his real parents.

because of this culture clash, not to mention with a slight tint that the court was a bit biased handling the issue, people in singapore get very angry.

its a tragic clash back then----- that 18 people was died and 173 others were injured when confronting with british officers and police. singapore was under siege for two days and two nights.

from then on, the issue can't be saved anymore..




maria hertogh/natrah passed away in huijbergen, holland on july 2009. she was 72.




---this is current malay theater production, based on that story

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