inter ethnic marriages in singapore
...and even renamed her Nadra. When Maria’s mother was released from prison, she demanded custody of Maria. But Che Aminah denied her request and the matter was brought to the Singapore court, where initially the court ruled in favour of Che Aminah. However, while under the care of Aminah, Maria had married a Muslim man following the Muslim rites. The Dutch Consul-General was to hear nothing of it and regarded the marriage as illegal because Maria was still underage and she did not have the consent of her father. The Dutch Consul-General then demanded Maria to be returned to her natural parents where she was put in a Roman Catholic convent pending her return to the Netherlands. Riots and fights broke out as the Muslims felt that the Muslim law had not been recognized or respected; and the media stirred up more resentment by reporting that Maria was being kept in a convent, going against the Islamic religion. Attacks were especially aimed towards any European or Eurasian. Though the fights were mainly between them, the Chinese and Indians eventually got involved. By the time the mayhem had subsided 18 people were killed and 173 injured. This just shows how something small like a simple custody battle could turn into such an enormous vehement affair. Singapore has progressed plenty since then, it is now so common to see such inter-ethnic marriages whereby the different religions and traditions of each race are respected and Another such riot that shed a glimpse of hope for Singapore’s multi-racial harmony was in 1964, involving the Malays and the Chinese. The fights and attacks had evolved all round Singapore with killing 23 and injuring 454 people. Yet amidst the racial violence were stories of people helping and protecting each other without racial boundaries, thus exemplifying the possibility of peace and friendship amongst Singaporeans. Inter-racial marriages per se, help to promote racial harmony as it allows for different cultures to appreciate and respect other cultures therefore increasing racial tolerance. It bridges the gap between different religions, and allows for more mixtures of races in Singapore for example; the Eurasian’s which is a mix between Asians and Europeans and the Peranakans which is a mix between the Chinese and the Malays and lastly the “Chindians”, as the name says, it is a mix between the Indians and the Chinese. A recent study of ethnicity, national identity and sense of rootedness in Singapore (Institute of Policy Studies [IPS], 2002) showed that the “Disapproval of inter-racial marriage has declined among Malays and Chinese. The Malays (68%) appear significantly more tolerant than Chinese (55%) and the Indians (54%). The comparative data for the 1990 IPS study were 45-50 perce...