Meanwhile, on 2 August, the day after the marriage, Che Aminah received from Kuala Lumpur lawyers Sisson and Delay, acting for Mr. and Mrs. Hertogh, Maria's parents, a letter saying it was no longer their wish that Maria should continue in her custody and formally demanding that she should by 10 August deliver possession of Maria to the Netherlands Consul-General in Singapore so that he could return Maria to them in Holland, failing which legal action would be taken.

This was the first move in renewed custody proceedings. After a somewhat ignominious showing in the Appeal Court, those seeking the return of Maria to her parents were now setting about the task of remedying the defects which had vitiated the previous proceedings. Maria's father sought the direct assistance of the Netherlands' Government; the Foreign Ministry took over financial responsibility for legal costs from the Netherlands Red Cross.

The letter to Che Aminah must have been written before the writers learnt of the marriage. A letter in similar terms was then sent to Mansoor Adabi. Believing that the marriage settled the matter, neither took any action. The deadline of 10 August passed.

By this time, a document attested by the Indonesian Registrar at Tjimahi, showing that Maria was born there on 24 March 1937, had been received by the Consul-General from Maria's father. For the first time, there was proof of Maria's age.

On 26 August (after further necessary documents had arrived from Holland), an originating summons (No. 248 of 1950) was taken out, under the Guardianship of Infants Ordinance, by Maria's patents, as plaintiffs, against Che Aminah, Maria and Mansoor Adabi, applying for (1) a declaration that the marriage was illegal and that Mansoor was not entitled to the custody of Maria; (2) an order that Mansoor should deliver Maria into the custody of the Consul-General, with liberty to restore her to her parents in Holland; and (3) an order prohibiting the removal of Maria from the jurisdiction of the court during the hearing of the case.