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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
There are two versions of the circumstances and understanding under which Maria came under the care of Che Aminah. One is the version given by Mrs. Adeline Hertogh and put forward by the Dutch authorities; the other is Che Aminah's. They differ in material respects.
Mrs. Hertogh's version was given in evidence before Mr. Justice Brown at the hearing in November 1950 (see Chapter XI). Its basis is that, at the time of her confinement with her sixth child in December 1942, under her mother's persuasion, she had reluctantly agreed to allow Maria to go and stay with Che Aminah on a short visit. Before Maria returned to her, she was interned.
This is not far removed from the sworn testimony of Frans van Lunteren of the Consulate-General for the Netherlands in Singapore, submitted at the first High Court hearing and dated 22 April 1950, to the effect that Maria had been handed over to Che Aminah for “safekeeping” – not in adoption – immediately before Mrs. Hertogh's internment.
In evidence, Mrs. Hertogh stated that in December 1942, when living with her mother at Tjimahi and expecting her sixth child towards the end of that month, Che Aminah three times asked her to let Maria go to stay with her for a few days at Bandoeng, a short distance away. Three times Mrs. Hertogh refused.
Around the time the sixth child was born on 29 December, her mother, Che Aminah's friend, persuaded Mrs. Hertogh to allow the child to go and visit Che Aminah for three or four days.
Three days after Mrs. Hertogh's confinement, Che Aminah arrived to fetch Maria.
As the child did not return on the third or fourth day, Mrs. Hertogh borrowed a bicycle on the fifth day (eight days after her confinement) and set out for Bandoeng to bring back her daughter.
On the outskirts of Bandoeng, she was arrested by a Japanese sentry because she had no pass. She was thereupon interned.
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