Tuesday, July 17, 2007
My Reflection
Blog Topic 4
In your opinion, what could have prevented the Maria Hertogh riots in 1950?
I feel that the Maria Hertogh riots could have been prevented if the British court is more sensitive towards racial and religious issue and more tactful in handling the case.
The British should be more understanding and sensitive towards others’ culture and religion. They should understand that since Maria Hertogh was brought up by the Muslims therefore, as a Muslim, one cannot follow another religion. They should know that Maria Hertogh should not be placed in a Catholic convent. Further more, she should not be asked to pray to Mother Mary. This had upset the Muslim community and they felt that the Muslim law was not respected. They should also know that, under the Muslim Law, 13 years old is not considered under aged for a marriage. Therefore they should recognize the marriage. Furthermore, they did not consider the feelings of Maria’s fostered parents, especially Maria’s husband, due to the separation. They did not realize the misery and unhappiness they caused to the Muslims. Besides, the father could not decide at that point as he was facing war at the other part of the world and she was already given to the Malay family. All these actions had caused the Muslims to believe that the British disrespected the Muslim law, causing disputes between the Europeans and Muslims within the country.
The riots could also be prevented if British learned to be more tactful in handling this case. If they had been more thoughtful of the feelings of the Muslim community, the riots could have been prevented. At first, Maria was returned to Che Aminah after her appeal. However, Maria was returned back to her natural parents when the battle for custody continued. Worse of all, Maria was put in a Roman Catholic convent after she was married to a Muslim. This could have caused the resentment among of the Muslims. Their action had caused the Muslims to believe that British court had racial discrimination against the Malays.
In conclusion, I feel that the British court should have been more understanding and sensitive towards racial and religious issue. If they had put efforts in understanding the culture and religion of another race, namely the Muslims, they would not have caused such great unhappiness and dissatisfaction in the Muslim community. Secondly, they should be more tactful in handling the case. Because of their tactlessness, they had caused conflicts between the Europeans and Muslims. They had angered the Muslims and made them believe that the verdict was based on racial discrimination.
I melt away with music.
9:47 PM
