Religion, nation and mother-love: The Malay Peninsula past and present

Abstract

This paper explores cultural contests around parental custody, religion and ethnonationalism in Singapore and Malaysia through the examination of some key episodes both past and present, in particular the famous case of Maria Hertogh, or Nadra. Political battles around this 1950 child custody case at the heights of the institutions of religion and state led to large-scale rioting in Singapore, which has reverberated to the present. The paper then analyses the later high-profile Jacqueline Gillespie case in the 1990s and some recent cases involving religious freedoms within Malaysia in which child custody became key issues. A core interest is the ways in which women, mothering - and children ..