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By Lisa Goh, The Star The High Court has allowed Kelantan prince Tengku Temenggong of Kelantan Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Sultan Ismail Petra to enter a judgment in default against his estranged wife Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother after they failed to engage new lawyers in his RM105mil defamation suit.
This means that Manohara and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, will have to pay Tengku Muhammad Fakhry for defaming him. However, the amount of damages has yet to be ascertained by the court. A judgment in default is a binding judgment in favour of the plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear before a court of law. Speaking to reporters later, the prince’s counsel Mohd Haaziq Pillay said High Court senior assistant registrar Shazali Hidayat Shariff granted the order in his chambers Thursday after the mother and daughter failed to meet the deadline set for them to engage new lawyers. Earlier this month, Messrs Fakrul Hisham Abdullah and Associates, engaged to act for Manohara and Daisy Fajarina, withdrew as their solicitors on record. “The defendants have been given the opportunity to appear in court with evidence to support their allegations, but until today, they have not turned up. “Money is not the issue for my client. This is about his dignity and reputation,” Mohd Haaziq said. He added that the court would still have assess the amount for damages, which could be more or less than the RM105mil they were claiming “based on the plaintiff’s status.” Manohara, 17, had fled from her husband on May 31 when they were in Singapore to visit the Sultan of Kelantan at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital. She returned to Jakarta after accusing the 31-year-old prince of abusing her physically and sexually, which was reported widely in the Indonesian and Malaysian media. In July, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry filed the suit against his estranged wife and her mother for defamation. He is seeking RM35mil each in aggravated, exemplary and compensatory damages as well as costs, interest and other relief deemed fit by the court. He is also applying for an injunction to restrain the defendants from further speaking and uttering similar words/ statements against him. In his earlier statement of claim, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry said the defamatory words widely printed and circulated online in Malaysia and Indonesia implied that he was guilty of mistreating, sexually harassing, abducting and unlawfully confining Manohara. The allegations, he said, were baseless and meant to disparage him in the eyes of the members of the royalty, the Government and the public. Due to this, he said he was forced to initiate legal proceedings to clear his name. On July 5, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry filed two applications against Manohara at the Syariah High and Lower Courts in Kota Baru, demanding the return of a loan of about RM1mil and also that she stays loyal to him. According to the prince, the couple had married on Aug 26, 2008 and stayed together at the Mahkota Palace in Kubang Kerian. At the lower Syariah court, the prince claimed that he had issued an ultimatum to Manohara on June 26, through the local media, to reconcile with him by July 2. He said Manohara was informed of this via the media but she failed to comply. He later asked the court to issue an order to reconcile or deem her to be nusyuz. (Nusyuz is the refusal of a wife to obey her husband in instances such as wilfully distancing herself from her husband, leaving the house without permission or refusing to relocate/ stay with her husband without valid reason(s) as prescribed under Islamic law.)
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