exclusive Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang has been accused of turning his back on his illegitimate daughter whom he fathered as a result of an alleged affair with a Filipino nurse in the early 1980s.

The daughter, Carla Brizuela Shah, 19, and her mother, Dina Brizuela Cooper, 47, are currently living in California, United States.

Dina claimed that she was subjected to several non-consensual sexual encounters with the sultan at the time when he was the Agong from 1979 to 1984. She said that as a result she became pregnant, adding that the sultan had totally disregarded and abandoned both her and their daughter.

Accepting responsibility for fathering Carla, the sultan had sought to negotiate with Dina since 1997 for a settlement amounting to RM10 million.

Private website

However, when negotiations with the sultan, through his personal lawyer Michael Chong, failed, Dina launched a [#1]

website

[/#] highlighting her life story as well as her unsuccessful attempts to gain recognition from the sultan and his family.

When contacted, Chong refused to comment on the matter.

"I don't want to respond to matters posted on a private website," he said.

Dina told malaysiakini that there are a number of reasons leading to the failure of the negotiations.

"My conditions were that any settlement talk had to include acceptance of the three fundamental conditions," she said in a faxed message to malaysiakini .

She had stipulated that there must be a written acknowledgement of Carla's paternity, that Carla be allowed to visit her father annually and that Carla be accepted as one of the sultan's children. Dina insisted that money was never a factor in their negotiations with the sultan.

Final offer

However, a source close to the sultan refutes this, stating that the negotiations failed because Dina was not happy with the amount offered by the sultan.

"The final offer amounted to almost RM10 million for Dina and Carla. Dina, however, wanted Carla to be part of the sultan's inheritance," said the highly placed source.

The source said the sultan had agreed to transfer a property in Los Angeles held in trust by Dina for her daughter.

Further investigation by malaysiakini revealed that the property, a six-bedroom house in a suburban close to Beverly Hills, is valued at US$1.1 million (RM4.1 million).

"The sultan has also offered to pay about US$100,000 (RM380,000) to Dina as well as US$50,000 (RM190,000) annually for six years for Carla's education," said the source.

These figures are also confirmed in various letters - all posted on Dina's website - sent by Chong to Dina's US lawyers.

The source also said that since the start of the negotiations in 1997, the sultan has paid about US$130,000 (RM494,000) to Carla and her mother for their expenses.

Child acknowledged

"What else do they want? The sultan has been kind in acknowledging their financial needs and has even recognised Carla as his daughter," said the source.

Dina said the negotiations finally broke down at the end of last year after the sultan and his lawyers recanted on matters which they had agreed earlier.

"They backpedalled on the financial commitments that they had agreed. They also wanted to double the term of confidentiality from 10 to 20 years after the sultan's death," she said.

She said the reason for the doubling of the period of the confidentiality clause was to keep news that the sultan was Carla's biological father a secret, adding that the negotiations also failed because of disagreement over her daughter's potential inheritance rights.

"We had made it clear from the beginning that we will not agree to any settlement that denied Carla her right to inquire into potential inheritance rights after her father's demise," said Dina.

"Carla was willing to agree to abide by the terms of inheritance that would govern during her father's lifetime. However, any demand by them that she waived any rights she may have as a pre-condition to settlement was not acceptable."

Dina said that at the last negotiation meeting, the sultan's lawyers had tried to "intimidate and bully" her and Carla into accepting a global settlement by waiving all rights Carla could have in the future.

"We disagreed to this and they left the meeting."

Law prohibits inheritance

The source countered this by stating that from the very outset, Carla was denied of any inheritance right under the Islamic law.

"The Syariah law is clear on this. An illegitimate child has no right to inherit from the father," said the source, adding that Carla, being an illegitimate child, could not be acknowledged as legitimate under the Islamic law.

"There is no such provision."

The source also said that the sultan had visited Carla on two occasions and if Dina had continued the negotiations, things would have worked out smoothly.

However, Dina, who confirmed that the sultan has met Carla, said he has never signed any papers acknowledging Carla as his daughter. Dina also said she felt the sultan was reluctant to start or maintain a relationship with Carla.

"Never has the sultan or his family members ever responded to letters sent by Carla or me. They have never bothered to accept phone calls, respond to faxes or anything else," said Dina.

She said that in the early stages of negotiation, an offer was made to her through a letter dated March 18, 1999.

A copy of the letter, which can be obtained from the website, stated that the sultan would transfer a property in Los Angeles to Dina as trustee for Carla. The letter also declared that the sultan would pay for Carla's education and expenses for six years beginning 1999.

Not rape

The letter also required Dina not to make any future claims on matters connected with the past relationship between the sultan and her.

The source, who is close to the royal family, said that the sultan's offers as specified in the letter were sufficient for the well-being of both the mother and daughter.

However, the source alleged that the letter posted on the website was not a complete copy of the original copy.

"In the original letter, Dina has agreed to and confirmed the settlement offered by the sultan. She had accepted that the daughter was born out of a relationship she had with the sultan. But she is now claiming that she was raped by him," said the source.

The source added that Dina was only interested in financial gains and wanted more than what was offered by the sultan.

"Dina is not interested in the well-being of her daughter. If she was, she would have accepted the money and the property. The money could have been used for Carla's education. She wants part of the sultan's wealth by making Carla a party to his inheritance. She is wrongly advised on this matter. Syariah law does not allow for this," the source stressed again.

To this, Dina said that Carla merely wanted an opportunity to inquire into the possibility of whether she had any potential rights under Islamic or other laws as one of the sultan's children.

"This is not to be misconstrued with her ever wanting to become a royalty or live in Malaysia, as she knew that that was improbable and not in line with her humble views," said Dina.

Contract on family ties

The palace source also said that Dina wanted everything in agreement, from visiting rights up to Carla's acceptance into the royal family.

"This is impossible to do. Family relationships should be nurtured with love. It can't be forced upon anyone. Time is needed for relationships to build and one cannot simply force others to form family ties contractually," the source said.

The source added that the website carried a photograph of the sultan with Carla, adding that this indicated that the sultan's relationship with his daughter was not "too bad".

"Maybe Dina should have given the sultan more room to accept Carla."

The source questioned Dina's agenda in putting up the website when she could have continued discussing with the sultan or his lawyers to seek a better future for herself and Carla.

Dina said that Carla wanted her father to assume his parental responsibility, especially since he was aware of her birth and whereabouts. Instead, she said, he has decided to abandon her and not contribute to her upbringing or care for more than 15 years of her life.

She added that once the negotiations failed, the sultan immediately stopped all remittances for Carla's schooling and living expenses.

Money to buy silence

"It is now every clear that all he was attempting to do was to buy our silence by offering us money to quash this issue, but once he failed, he showed his true colours about his feelings towards his daughter," said Dina.

Another person familiar with this matter, however, said that the sultan was not the reason for the stalled negotiations. He added that the sultan's offer to both Carla and Dina was on the table for them to take.

"There is also nothing wrong with the sultan asking for a confidentiality agreement. He has agreed to give some money, provide visitation rights for Carla and would have tried to slowly bring her close to his family. Even the property in LA which he was willing to give was a compensation to the loss of fatherly love," the person said.

He added that the sultan also agreed to be subjected to a penalty of US$25,000 (RM95,000) if he failed to see Carla in the agreed period of time.

However, Dina said the penalty was imposed after it became increasingly clear that the sultan was reluctant to meet Carla. "The amount was chosen as it was felt that this might be the amount the sultan would have to spend on any visitation."

Risk in Malaysia

Dina's claim that Malaysia was also deemed too much of a safety risk for Carla to visit her father was rubbished by the person familiar with this matter.

He asked how could Carla be introduced to the sultan's family if her mother was not willing to let Carla visit Malaysia, where the sultan's family is. He also refuted Dina's allegations that the sultan was reluctant to meet his daughter.

"He has meet her twice. He has taken her to shows and shopping, and he spoke for a long time with his daughter. There was a possibility of him continuing this until her mother broke the negotiations," he said.

He also questioned Dina's wisdom in setting up the website which contains a number of allegations that could bring disrepute to the sultan.

"What does she want to achieve with the website? She should continue with her negotiations. Maybe she is trying to build public sympathy for her," he added.

The person also said that Dina could even bring this matter to the courts.

"She must first obtain consent from the Attorney-General's Chambers to file a claim against the sultan in the Special Court. Even if she can get that done, she must remember that she can only file action for matters which arose after March 1993," he said.

The Special Court was formed in 1993 under the Federal Constitution to hear cases against the Malay Rulers in their personal capacity for offences and misdemeanours committed by them.

The source said that even if the court were to hear Dina's matter, it would only possibly compensate her for the sultan's misdemeanour from 1993.

Given this, Carla and her mother would not be able to get as much as they have been offered under the original settlement, said the source.

Money not the motivation

Dina responded by stating that her motivation was not to gain money, adding that she had been very discreet since Carla's birth.

"I sent him letters, pictures, Carla's birth certificate and left telephone messages at the Istana for him. What I was attempting to do all these years was to be discreet and to protect his reputation, standing, image and dignity by not going public about his shameless actions," she said.

"However, when I saw how he was beginning to treat our daughter, I could no longer keep silent ... I could not let the sultan get away with shirking his responsibilities and obligation to his child."

Tomorrow:

[#2]

A sultan's daughter born out of wedlock[/#]