It was quite an event when HH Prince Tengku Temenggong Tengku Mohammad Fakhry, of the northern Malaysian state of Kelantan, married well known Indonesian socialite and teenage model Manohara Odelia Pinot in October of 2008. However, according to the 17-year-old bride her married life was a nightmare. While on a visit to Singapore and with some help from the U.S. embassy she fled her husband and went home to Indonesia in May of last year and related a tale of royal torture. She said she had been locked up like a prisoner, cut with razors, drugged if she complained and repeatedly raped. Prince Fakhry immediately sued his young bride for libel and was recently awarded $1.8 million for defamation in spite of the fact that Indonesian doctors who examined the soon-to-be ex-princess said there were clear signs of physical abuse. However, the bride's family did not appear in court nor did they hire an attorney to defend them. They now say the ruling is outrageous and that they will not pay. Divorce proceedings are currently underway in the Islamic court in Kelantan. The north Malaysian state, which borders Thailand, is very conservative and has been ruled for some time by a very hard-line Islamic party. The Republic of Indonesia, on the hand, while the most populous Muslim nation in the world, is considerably more secular and "progressive". Similar charges to the ones made by the Princess have also been leveled at the neighboring Sultan of Brunei, ruler of one of the most absolute and strictly Muslim monarchies in the world.
While I support Monarchy, I do not support wife beating. As with Israel of Old, I beleive the Law is above the King, and Gods Laws ever shoudl be followed.
ReplyDeleteAs such, and as with King Saul, I beleive Prince Tengku Temenggong Tengku Mohammad Fakhry should be stripped of his Title, and it bestowed onto another, one not connected to his terrible abuse and thus not complicit, and he should stand triak for his Abuse of his wife. I have no sympathy for wife beaters.
This is, unfortunately, not an unknown problem in the Muslim world and yet one cannot paint with a broad brush as both Indonesia and Malaysia are Muslim countries and what might be ignored or hushed up in one, or even a part of one, would not be tolerated in the other. In cases of spousal abuse I have often relished the thought of the abuser being given a taste of their own medicine by someone appropriately bigger and stronger than they are. There are few acts more barbaric and more indicative of a weak man.
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