Manohara Odelia Pinot - Once I was a princess

Somehow I am not so convinced of the story by Manohara Odelia Pinot, published in Malaysiakini today. Also, bear in mind that besides the two news articles carrying only her side of the story, they were written by an Indon journalist. Malaysiakini published them with permission from Jakarta Globe.

Besides, kaytee is one cynical bloke, Even though I am not particularly impressed by Malaysian royalty, or for that matter any royalty, I like to question the thus far one-sided stories wakakaka.

First of all, in Teen model claims she was raped during boat trip she said at the age of 14 she was raped by Kelantan Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra. She related to the reporter:

“We were cruising from Singapore to Lombok, to Bali. In the boat, he just grabbed me. At the time I was just in the room, sitting there to wait for my mom. Basically, it just happened. But after that, I just kind of shut down. I didn't know what to think about myself.”

Well, it didn't matter whether it was consensual or not, because if it did happen, according to Malaysian civil law it would be statutory rape as she was allegedly only 14.

But what was the prince doing in her room?

Hey, where was her mum? Didn't she say "At the time I was just in the room, sitting there to wait for my mom"?

And why were they (sweetie + family & the Kelantan Tengku) travelling together on the boat?

Then reporter Armando Siahaan asked her: "If he raped you before you went to Malaysia, why did you accept his invitation"? [presumably to go to Malaysia]?

She replied: “Because, (a) I just didn't want to believe, so I just tried to completely block that out, and (b) after that he was really nice to me. He was extremely sweet and gentlemanly. I didn't know what happened, actually.”

Hmmm ...

In the other article, also by Armando Siahaan titled Manohara - up close and personal she was reported as saying:

“We went [to Malaysia] on Aug 17, 2008. [My sister, my mother and I] hung out for a couple days before meeting his parents. When we met the parents, [his] mom was like, "OK, I agree with you the wedding is on the 26th."

This was after the ‘rape’! And her family went all the way to Kelantan? And her mum and sister were with her!

And apparently, according to her own admission, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra’s mum said "OK, I agree with you the wedding is on the 26th."

Agree with you? What did this mean?

Perhaps journalist Armando Siahaan summarised the case best by his opening lines: “ … a 17-year-old girl who has travelled the world, married a prince and run away, and whose face is now famous across Indonesia. Her story is so extraordinary that it is hard to believe. Her fairytale-to-nightmare claims of a whirlwind marriage, kidnapping, abuse and escape have gripped the Indonesian public.”

Could it be she (and her family) were initially enamoured of her marriage to a prince (gasp) but subsequently things turned sour when this western cultured sweetie found herself like a caged bird, ...

... and that her expectation of the life of a Malaysian princess fell flat as the reality of her princess status proved to be far too boring and restrictive?

As people say, there are two sides to every story.

photos from Malaysiakini