Ops Manohara: Plan hatched and executed in S'pore

The feisty mother of Manohara Odelia Pinot relives her experience on how how her teenaged daughter fled from the clutches of her allegedly sadistic 32-year-old royal husband.

Manohara, a 17-year-old Indonesian model, has claimed that she was raped, kidnapped and abused by Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra - the third prince in the Kelantan sultanate.

Daisy, 44, spoke exclusively to Malaysiakini last week while waiting for Manohara to finish shooting a soap opera at a private television station in Jakarta.

Part one of the interview appeared yesterday .

Malaysiakini: So (after going back to Jakarta) when did the situation (between Manohara and Muhammad Fakhry) improve and how did you go together to perform ‘umrah’ (minor pilgrimage)?

Daisy: When finally they tried to convince us that we all ‘menyedari kesalahan kita itu' (realised our wrongdoings) ... we want to ‘saling bermaaf-maafan' (forgive one another) in the proper place.

They said: "We want to make up not just here but fly you to the Holy land, to Mecca ... let’s do ‘umrah’ together, and over there we can ask for forgiveness."

So we immediately had a party in Jakarta - I had made arrangements for that, I made arrangements in the hotel for 250 people.

So based on that, you flew from Indonesia to...?

Based on that, we flew by Malaysia Airlines from Indonesia to Jeddah, then we did our ‘ibadah’ (religious obligation). We went to Medina, Mecca, and on the 9th of March we planned to go back to Indonesia ... that was our plan.

We were to go back on the 9th, we would be in Jakarta on the 10th, and on the 15th, we were going to have a small party for Manohara and Tengku, and then on the 19 ^th , we were to go back (to Malaysia) because there was going to be the sultan’s birthday in Kelantan.

From here, you, Manohara and Dewi went to Jeddah. From Tengku’s side, who came?

Tengku, Maihmurrim, Haji Kamil, (Mohd) Soberi (Shafii) and his wife, Azari, the bodyguard.

So five of them?

Yes.

Everything was well and nice in Jeddah?

Yes.

Tengku, was he nice?

He was very nice.

What did he promise you there?

He promised me that he was going to be good (baik), we talked about what he wanted to wear in Indonesia for the festival...

When did things change? Were you supposed to leave with Tengku?

We were supposed to leave with Tengku on the 9th of March.

On a private plane?

No, with Malaysia Airlines. They told us we were leaving on the 9 o’clock flight by Malaysia Airlines to go to Jakarta. Tengku, Azari, Soberi and his wife, myself, Dewi, Manohara and Haji Kamil, eight of us. I will give you later the passenger list, the manifest. All our names were there and all our luggage was already inside the plane.

(On the way to the airport) I was kind of surprised because I was thinking, okay, we were flying back with Malaysia Airlines, however we were not going to the commercial airport, but a private jet airport. But I was very happy, I said, "Oh my God, this is my son-in-law, he’s so nice, he wants to give me a surprise, taking a private jet back, how wonderful."

Our car stopped in front of the plane - the private jet was on the runway - (but) they (had) closed the door and we were not allowed to go into the plane. They even closed the windows.

I was screaming, run(ning) around like crazy. It was really chaotic at that time on the runway. The driver of the car even had to reverse, if not the airplane’s wing would have hit the car.

And they left with Manohara, they beat her up inside the plane. Their route was from Jeddah, stopover at Maldives (for refuelling) and then directly to Kelantan.

So when they stopped over at Maldives, I managed to talk to Manohara, she was screaming. She said, "Mom, Soberi beat me, his wife held me down, and everything."

How did you find your way back?

I still had the Malaysia Airlines ticket - our ticket was a return ticket. So I went back the next day to Jakarta with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

This happened when?

This happened on the 9th of March. I arrived in Jakarta on the 11th of March. At the airport, Haji Kamil said that the Raja Perempuan (the sultan’s wife) said there was "a condo ready for you (Daisy), how much do you (Daisy) want? Just give Manohara to them. Let go (of) Manohara".

I said to him, "I don’t need a condo, they can take anything from me, they can take my organs. But I want my daughter back." Not this way. They can’t have my daughter. I agreed for Tengku to be married with Manohara, for Christ’s sake, but not this way.

What did I do? Why do I deserve this kind of treatment? Especially after going there (Mecca) to do ‘umrah’ - to go there and ask for forgiveness, yet they did this to me. I was in front of ‘Tuhan’ (God). I was like his (Tengku) mother, how could he have done this to me? He just left me behind on the runway.

So after that, did you manage to contact Manohara?

Yes, I managed to contact Manohara, but without them knowing it.

What was the news that you got from Manohara?

What Manohara said was that they put her in the room and Raja said, "This is what you get because when you are with your mom, we are not able to have you."

So the problem was like this - Tengku is a person that cannot do wrong. So instead of thinking, "It’s my behaviour and my word that’s making my wife angry with me, therefore I should communicate with her, talk to her and I should fix this, he blames me for it."

If Manohara is angry, it is because I influenced her to be angry. If Manohara doesn’t want to be with Tengku, it’s me who doesn’t want her to be with Tengku.

No, I did not get any condo, I was staying in a rented place. If they said they bought me a condo, ask them, where is the bill? Where is the receipt stating my name in it?

But there was the allegation that he bought a condo and after that...

Yes, but that was his condo, not mine.

That was the condo that you said he bought for you?

Yes. It was under his name and Manohara’s name.

So while she was there from March to May, she was constantly tortured?

Yes.

And Manohara was keeping in contact with you, by sending SMSes?

Yes.

How did you know she was coming down to Singapore? And what is the role of Datuk Kadar Shah (Sulaiman) in this matter?

I went to the Malaysian embassy to ask to at least (allow me to) meet with my daughter. A few days later, Datuk Kadar Shah called me, asking if I remembered him.

I said, "Yes, I know your name but I haven’t really met you." He said he wanted to help not just them but both of us. I agreed. We met a few times, and when Datuk Kadar Shah went to Kelantan to see Manohara’s condition, he got suspicious.

He also has a daughter, and he even cried to me and said, "I am very sorry but something is not right with Manohara. There must be something wrong with her, because when we shook hands, it was like she gave me a sign."

When they met in Singapore, she managed to write a note on a piece of tissue (paper): "Datuk Kadar Shah, this is Manohara, please help me out, I am not happy and healthy here, I want to go back to Jakarta."

Who informed you that Manohara was coming down (to Singapore)?

Manohara informed me, and Datuk Kadar Shah as well. And one of the people from the Kelantan ‘kerajaan’ (government) as well.

So you and your eldest daughter, Dewi, went to Singapore?

We came to Singapore, but of course we were very scared because you never know, you know? The only mission I had at that time was for Manohara to write a message to me because everywhere I go, they (the authorities) all said that it had to be Manohara herself asking for help otherwise, "we cannot help her".

So I discussed this with Dewi ( far left in photo ) - if by 3 or 4am the hotel gets suspicious then we could go outside and wait for Manohara to come out.

So you were in the hotel restaurant with your daughter...?

No, we were walking around, and Datuk Kadar Shah was there (too), but we didn’t have her room number. So we just walked around twice and while walking around, I saw Soberi (who was) wearing an orange shirt. But when I looked back, he had already run away.

Who told you that Manohara was there (on the third floor of the hotel)?

I really would love to meet this lady, I kept looking for her but I still could not find her, I called the number that I thought was hers, but my call didn’t get through - the number was not active.

This lady suddenly (came out of the hotel and) called me - she came from the same village, from South Sulawesi, and we spoke in our own dialect - and she asked me if I was Manohara’s mother.

I said yes, and she said, "She’s on the third floor, sitting on the floor inside the lift, crying and screaming. I have the (hotel’s lift) key, my room is on the third floor, come let’s go upstairs."

So you went up?

Yes, and I saw my dearest Manohara screaming and crying on the floor and there was a doctor. If I had been five minutes late, the doctor would have already given her the tranquiliser. But Manohara was screaming to get attention.

How were the Singaporean police involved in this?

Oh yes, I forgot to mention this - on the way from the airport to the hotel, the taxi driver advised me, after (over)hearing our conversation, to call 999. And the police in Singapore were really a great help.

And the American embassy?

Manohara was the one who called the American embassy.

During the escape, what time was it?

It was not really an escape, because we were (later) inside the ladies room and the police from Singapore were really taking care of us. They did not allow anyone to "talk bad" to us, this (Malaysian) minister’s wife kept pressuring Manohara, she kept asking Manohara to go talk to Raja, but the police stood up for her and said, "Madam, it is time for you to leave the room." So we felt really protected in Singapore.

After that, the police got the three of you?

There was some negotiation after that, because Tengku did not want to let us go, so the police and the lawyer and the Datuk said, "It’s your choice, if Manohara presses charges against you here, we will immediately handcuff you". So he had no choice, he let her go.

Suddenly a bodyguard brought a box, (and) inside it a bag. They thought this bag was bought by Tengku. They poured out the insides of the bag and gave them to Manohara. Manohara asked, "What about the bag?" They said, "Tengku is the one who bought it for you".

Manohara said, "No, I bought the bag." So finally they returned it to her. I believe there is a credit card with a limit of RM3,000 which Manohara had to return immediately. All the jewelry, Manohara just left behind.

We waited until 4 or 5 in the morning, then we went to the airport escorted by the diplomats from Indonesia - and they were also very helpful as well.

There was a journalist from Indonesia, she was pretending to be my assistant but she was actually a journalist. She had a small camera with her, so everything that happened in that room was taken. Everything was recorded.

Let’s talk about the allegations that you abused your maid (in France).

First of all, Shaleha (the maid) is really like our own daughter. In 2006, I had to go back to Indonesia for Ramadan - every year I come back for my family - and when I was here (in Jakarta), my dearest father had passed away, so I stayed longer in Jakarta.

I stayed here for three months and when I went back (to France) for five days, I saw my husband with Shaleha in the process of doing ‘maksiat’ (sexual act).

So of course, who doesn’t get angry? I was speechless, I just cried. After that, Leha ran away, left a message saying that she couldn’t stand herself, she couldn’t stand to see me, Dewi and Manohara.

Shaleha is 25 years old and she could speak French and the knowledge that I gave Leha, she could work anywhere. She is a very good cook, she can do anything. She also had a boyfriend called Jonathan.

I love my husband dearly, but I had to bring my daughters back to Indonesia because I don’t feel confident in my husband anymore. But I still have Dewi and Manohara, and that’s when I decided to stay permanently in Jakarta.

When I was here I received news that my husband had been accused of sexually abusing her (the maid), and she was (also) reporting me for slavery. I have a lot of pictures of her in Milan, in Amsterdam, wearing the same scarf as Dewi and Manohara. We have pictures of us celebrating her birthday.

They're all ‘fitnah’ (lies) - the accusations.

What are you going to do next?

The next step that we are going to take is to just survive in life. You cannot kill yourself by going through these ‘cubaan’ (trying times), but from the experience that I have had with Manohara, I did not ask for this from God.

I just asked from God to get a message (pesan) from Manohara, so people would trust me and people were willing to help her (when she was allegedly held by the prince).

So what I learnt from this is that I just want to do everything the best I can. I do not want anything more. What God gives, you can never expect it to be.

I never want to ask anything from God anymore. I will just do the best that I can and we have to continue to fight, and the rest is up to Him.

Is there any possibility of Manohara and Tengku getting back together?

I don’t think so. Not after this. It’s up to her. Then again, I just hope and pray that justice will prevail (keadilan akan ditegakkan).

Is there any way for Tengku to solve this problem?

I think the only way he can solve it, for the future and for the present, is to be sincere (ikhlas).

I am very ‘malu’(embarrassed) on their behalf. It is very normal for a husband to buy things for his wife, but for the husband to show the bill to the public on (Indonesian) TV ( above ), that is really something.

I hope he will be sincere and apologise, the problem will be solved. That is what I hope for.

VIDEO | 25 mins

Yesterday: Part 1 - Manohara’s mom tells her side of the story

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Manohara interview will appear in Malaysiakini in two parts on Saturday and Sunday.