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JAKARTA A teenage US-Indonesian model has returned to her family in Indonesia with tales of abuse, rape and torture at the hands of a Malaysian prince, saying she had escaped his guards at a Singapore hotel.
Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, told reporters she was treated like a sex slave after her marriage last year to Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the prince of Malaysia's Kelantan state.
Her mother, Daisy Fajarina, said she would press charges against the 31-year-old prince, and blamed the Malaysian and Indonesian governments for trying to cover up the alleged abuse.
'Manohara has suffered physical abuse. She's got several razor cuts on her chest,' Fajarina told AFP on Monday.
The young woman — a well-known socialite in Jakarta — said her life at the royal palace had involved a 'daily routine' of rape, abuse, torture and occasional drug injections that made her vomit blood.
She said she was usually held under guard in her bedroom at the palace and was injected with tranquilisers whenever she complained.
'I am still traumatised by all that happened and it has left an impact on me,' she told reporters in Jakarta on Sunday, after escaping the royal family during a trip to Singapore over the weekend.
'Sexual abuse and sexual harassment were like a daily routine for me, and he did that every time I did not want to have sexual intercourse,' she said, according to The Jakarta Globe daily.
'I could never think a normal man could do such things,' she said, adding, 'some parts of my body were cut by a razor. I've been treated like an animal. I'm like his property and I was in his room and whenever he wants to play with me he just goes into the room and plays with me. I'm like an object.'
The teenager — whose fairy-tale wedding to a prince captured the imagination of Indonesia — said she would be tortured if she did not appear to be happy when she attended social functions with Fakhry.
She said she secretly called Singaporean police and pleaded for help after the royal family took her to Singapore when they accompanied Fakhry's father, Sultan Ismail Petra Shah II, for medical treatment.
'The police told Fakhry that he would be held in jail if he did not let me go. No one could force me against my will in Singapore and I knew I had a chance to escape,' she said.
Singaporean police have refused to comment on Manohara's allegations.
The Detikcom news website in Indonesia quoted a 'friend' of the prince as saying the ex-model was allowed to leave voluntarily and blamed her mother for influencing her to make up stories about him.
The friend, Mohd Soberi Shafii, said she should be examined by a 'neutral doctor in Australia, Singapore or London' to support her allegations.
The model once voted as being among Indonesia's '100 Precious Women' blasted the Indonesian embassy in Mal aysia, saying, 'They made it worse by telling lies, saying that I was fine while I was suffering in Kelantan.'
A spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry insisted the embassy had done everything it could to help Manohara and said the government would assist her if she wanted to file charges against her husband.
But Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the government would not investigate the allegations.
'I think this is more of a personal matter. To date we have not been dragged into it, so we want to leave it as it is,' he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia's royal rulers used to enjoy immunity from criminal and civil charges but the privilege was removed in 1993.
There has been no comment from the Kelantan royal family.
Manohara's lawyer, Yuri Darmas, said his client would have a medical examination to back up her allegations of abuse.
'We need one to two days to gather evidence before we file a lawsuit to the Malaysian police,' he said, adding that he intended to pursue criminal and civil lawsuits against the prince.
Manohara has already filed for divorce, her mother said.— AFP
