Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak dodged questions about the alleged abduction of a young model by a Malaysian prince as he met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Thursday.
Reporters covering the press conference after the leaders met at the presidential palace were refused permission to ask about the case of 17-year-old Indonesian-American model Manohara Odelia Pinot.
As they fielded approved questions about closer bilateral relations and economic cooperation, Miss Manohara’s mother held an emotional press conference of her own to plead with Mr Najib for help in finding her socialite daughter.
Miss Manohara married last year to Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the prince of Malaysia’s Kelantan state.
Her mother, Daisy Fajarina, said her daughter had suffered ‘emotional and physical abuse’ at the hands of her husband, who was holding her against her will in Malaysia.
She said she had been refused entry to Malaysia to see her daughter, who was crying and distraught when she last spoke to her Indonesian family by phone from Malaysia on March 21.
‘As the new prime minister of Malaysia I urge Najib to investigate to defend our rights and the truth,’ Mdm Fajarina told reporters at the offices of the national human rights commission.
‘I just want my daughter to be set free… As a mother I have a right to see my daughter.’
She fainted when she was mobbed by journalists from Indonesia’s celebrity press, who have written extensively about Miss Manohara’s plight.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak dodged questions about the alleged abduction of a young model by a Malaysian prince as he met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Thursday.
Reporters covering the press conference after the leaders met at the presidential palace were refused permission to ask about the case of 17-year-old Indonesian-American model Manohara Odelia Pinot.
As they fielded approved questions about closer bilateral relations and economic cooperation, Manohara’s mother held an emotional press conference of her own to plead with Najib for help in finding her socialite daughter.
Manohara last year married Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the prince of Malaysia’s Kelantan state.
Her mother, Daisy Fajarina, said Manohara had suffered “emotional and physical abuse” at the hands of her husband, who was holding her against her will in Malaysia.
“As the new prime minister of Malaysia I urge Najib to investigate to defend our rights and the truth,” Fajarina told reporters at the offices of the national human rights commission.
“I just want my daughter to be set free… As a mother I have a right to see my daughter.”
She said she had been refused entry to Malaysia to see Manohara, who was crying and distraught when she last spoke to her Indonesian family by phone on March 21.
“I was already in the airport but immigration officials told me that I was strictly forbidden to enter Malaysian territory,” she said, referring to an incident on March 19.
Fajarina said the last time she saw Manohara was when she accompanied the couple on a pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia in late February. The teen bride was already unhappy with her new husband and the trip was supposed to be a fence-mending exercise for the family, she said.
But it ended in anger and confusion when the prince abandoned Fajarina at an airport in Jeddah and whisked her daughter away in his private jet.
“My daughter was taken away forcibly in a private jet from Jeddah … I was on the passenger list and my personal stuff was already in the plane, but the jet took off without me and left me on the runaway,” she said.
She also accused the royal family of trying to bribe her to forget about Manohara with a million-dollar apartment in Malaysia.
“I cannot accept that. Even if they give me the world, I cannot sell my beloved daughter,” she said.
Fajarina fainted when she was mobbed by journalists from Indonesia’s celebrity press, who have written extensively about Manohara’s plight.
Indonesia’s ambassador to Malaysia, Da’i Bachtiar, said he had spoken to the royal household in Kelantan and received word that Manohara was fine.
But they refuse to allow her mother to visit and the Malaysian foreign ministry has not replied to further inquiries, he told AFP.
“I have communicated with the Kelantan sultanate. They said Manohara is healthy and fine. We asked about the wishes of her mother but there was a rejection of her visit to Malaysia,” Bachtiar said.
“We’ve addressed questions officially to the Malaysian foreign affairs ministry, but there’s been no answer yet. We’ve addressed the questions in order to give protection to an Indonesian citizen.”
Najib was sworn in earlier this month after his predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was forced to stand down.
He has repeatedly denied involvement in the gruesome murder in 2006 of 28-year-old Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu, the lover of his close aide.
The aide was acquitted of abetting her murder but two police officers have been sentenced to hang for the slaying of the young woman, whose remains were blown up with military-grade explosives in a jungle clearing. Read more »
