I have been reading the Malay Mail for the last 10 years or so and I must congratulate your paper on the new style of reporting. I feel compelled to write in about the Manohara saga, which I have been following.

Without a doubt, had it not been for Malay Mail, I would have joined the many in believing that the Kelantan
prince was indeed a beast with very low morals.

This is what Manohara and her mother Daisy Fajarina had hoped for in the first place.

To a large extent, they did succeed - but the tide seems to have changed.

I am a lay person, but the following must be answered by Manohara and Daisy if they are to convince me and many others that she is indeed an abused soul.

Why did Daisy, as the guardian of Manohara, allow this marriage in the first place? Both mother and daughter
seem to be giving the world the impression they were forced into it.

How would one then justify the expensive gifts and money sent to Manohara for use by her mother? Can Daisy deny that she was happily signing at the reception hosted? Where is the duress factor?

What attempts were made by Manohara to complain about the alleged incidents of brutality? Please specify the first available opportunity that came by wherein she could have cried for help.

Well, her immediate answer would be that she could not have done it in Malaysia for fear of repercussions as it involves a prince.

Let's leave the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia, which she claims is hopeless for reasons only known to her.

But, what about in Singapore, when she was out shopping with the prince just prior to her so-called dramatic
escape?

Are we dumb enough to believe she was unable to cry for help in such a regulated country as Singapore? Or was it that she was just too preoccupied shopping that she had forgotten the pain inflicted upon her?

Surely her priorities warrant some soul searching. Once having escaped the clutches of the prince in Singapore, why did she not go to a hospital there for a medical check up?

Why did she not report the so-called abuses to the Singapore police, who then - as required under the law - would have sent her for a medical examination? Instead, she and Daisy choose to fly to Indonesia and call a Press conference.

She only went for a so-called medical examination with so much of pomp many days after - accompanied
by her celebrity lawyers.

The answer is simple. It was the publicity that mattered most.

Where is the medical evidence on the examination that was conducted in Indonesia?

Her allegations of torture are not of the occasional slap that a wife may be subjected to by her husband, though that too isn't acceptable.

It is about razors, hot iron machines, tranquilisers and so forth. Poor Manohara. She must have been on some Indonesian herb that gave her the strength to shop around in Singapore despite all that abuse.

She must have been so traumatised by those abuses and yet again, mysteriously, she had the strength to immediately start her acting career - which in some way relates to her so-called experience as a battered wife in Singapore. Hope she wins an Oscar for her acting.

What steps are she taking to defend the suit filed against her in Malaysia?

These are only a few of the issues among the many that Manohara has to answer. I sincerely hope that she makes a serious attempt to do so - failing which, I shall form the opinion that she was only crying wolf in order to garner support and publicity.

It is this publicity that got her the role of an actress. Had it been "Ahmad",

"Ah Meng" or "Ramasamy" who was accused of the alleged abuses, her story would have probably only found its way to the waste paper basket.

As for Daisy, she would have to answer the charges in France. My conscience has urged me more than once to contribute to this noble cause of paying for Daisy's airfare to France.

I am sure that she will not object to it as she is desirous of clearing her good name. Well done Daisy Fajarina.

In the meantime, it is only fair that until such time as she is cleared by the courts in France, she remains in the glass house, but without throwing stones at others.

I am proud of Malay Mail for exposing the truth. I have got no specific love for royalty, but in this case, I feel that I do have an obligation to support a fellow Malaysian.

Nooraida
Kuala Lumpur