Teenage U.S.-Indonesian model Manohara Odelia Pinot waves to journalists as she arrives at home in Jakarta on May 31, 2009. (AFP/Getty Images)
The starlet, the prince, and the sexual abuse allegations (did we mention kidnapping?)
It sounds like a crazy Indonesian fable. It's not.
JAKARTA — Relations between Indonesia and Malaysia, tepid at the best of times, took a turn for the worse earlier this month when the Indonesian Navy had to chase a Malaysian attack ship out of disputed waters in the oil-rich region of Ambalat.
Similar confrontations have occurred already nine times this year, according to the Indonesian military, with few outside the military ever taking notice. But this time Indonesian nationalism had already been stirred by a totally unrelated diplomatic scuttlebutt.
A beloved Indonesian starlet, who happens to be half American, returned to Jakarta around the same time as the Ambalat incursion, accusing her husband, a Malaysian prince, of kidnapping and sexual abuse, riling Indonesians into a fury.
Her story could have been a script out of the very Indonesian soap operas that once made her famous. Visiting her sick father-in-law in Singapore, 17-year-old Manohara Odelia Pinot made a daring midnight escape, aided by an Indonesian nationalist militia and officials from Singapore, Jakarta and Washington. Incredibly, the teenager slipped out of an elevator and away from several Malaysian Royal guards.
“Their guards tried to find and catch me but they were afraid of having their actions recorded by the escalator’s camera, so they let me go,” she said at the time.
Ever since, her story has been on the front pages and all over television news and gossip programs in both Malaysia and Indonesia. And all of those reports have included a mention of the Ambalat incident, ratcheting up what might otherwise have been a minor diplomatic incident.
The Malaysian government hurried to sooth tensions but Indonesians were already short on patience with their neighbor. Last year, Malaysia was forced to discontinue a tourism advertising campaign that included scenes of villagers making Batik prints after protests from Indonesia, which considers the clothing design to be its distinct cultural heritage.
Indonesian and Malaysia share more than just borders. They both have majority Muslim populations and share numerous cultural pastimes, including similar languages. The people themselves are mostly of Malay decent. But rather than creating closer ties, the commonalities have more often pitted the countries against each other.
Indonesians refer to its neighbor as Maling-sia, “maling” being the Indonesian word for thief. The phrase originated in the 1960s during a war between the two newly independent countries over territory on the island of Borneo.
Recent on Indonesia :
Special Report
Thomas Mucha - Commerce - January 28, 2010 17:24 ET
20 correspondents, 20 countries and a world of pain. Meet the ground truth of the global economic crisis.
Indonesia: What do they think of the "Menteng Kid" now?
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - January 19, 2010 19:56 ET
Like other places around the world, Obama is having trouble in his old backyard.
Economic worries in Indonesia? Blame the Chinese.
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - January 10, 2010 07:56 ET
A new regional trade deal raises tensions between two rising economic powers.
Tsunami anniversary marks fragile peace in Aceh
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - December 26, 2009 14:33 ET
Reconstruction efforts have been impressive, but concerns remain over peace agreement with Jakarta.
Climate change: Better REDD than dead?
Peter Gelling - Global Green - December 9, 2009 06:31 ET
Indonesia is taking a bigger role in its CO2 responsibilities.
Why Indonesian kids are crazy for punk
Maria Bakkalapulo & Ayumi Nakanishi - Indonesia - December 1, 2009 13:43 ET
Indonesia: Raise a flag, go to prison
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - December 1, 2009 10:55 ET
Happy independence day in West Papua?
Why white skin is all the rage in Asia
Phillip Martin - China and its neighbors - November 26, 2009 12:03 ET
From pills to lasers to cream, what's fueling the boom in skin-whitening procedures across the continent?
Special report: Silicon Sweatshops
Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 23, 2009 10:51 ET
Despite strict "codes of conduct," labor rights violations are the norm at factories making the world's favorite high-tech gadgets.
Silicon Sweatshops: A promising model
Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 18, 2009 06:54 ET
There's no easy way to police supply chains in Asia. But one US high-tech firm and its Taiwan supplier are taking a creative approach that might just work.
Silicon Sweatshops: Shattered dreams
Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:24 ET
Migrant workers making gadgets at Taiwan's high-tech parks sign deals that make them modern-day indentured servants.
Silicon Sweatshops: The China connection
Kathleen E. McLaughlin and Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET
For migrant workers, an electronics factory job can be a ticket into China's booming middle class. But for many, it turns into a nightmare of poor working conditions and indifferent bosses.
Silicon Sweatshops: Disposable workforce
Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET
Laid-off Taiwanese workers accuse their firm of violating industry codes even when times were good.
Indonesia: The home of "Green Islam"
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - November 16, 2009 06:25 ET
Can Quranic teaching save the planet? Many in the world's most-populous Muslim nation think so.
Asia's pushback to big tobacco
Patrick Winn - Thailand - November 15, 2009 12:30 ET
The cigarette industry wants a bigger slice of Asia. Activists want them to butt out.
Can Indonesia's "Hamburger King" topple McDonald's?
Sara Schonhardt - Indonesia - November 11, 2009 06:55 ET
So far, the signs are not good.
Indonesia: Corruption junction
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - November 6, 2009 14:02 ET
A corruption scandal hits — you guessed it — the country's anti-corruption commission.
Indonesia: You call this reform?
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - October 22, 2009 05:45 ET
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's new cabinet has caused some head-scratching.
On Location video: Java, Indonesia
Peter Gelling - Indonesia - October 18, 2009 10:04 ET
Terrorist mastermind Noordin Top is dead. But in the tiny villages of Central Java, his ideas live on.
Watch GlobalPost videos:
Reporter's Notebook
Hopes of finding survivors trapped beneath hundreds of collapsed buildings here began to fade Saturday, three days after a large earthquake struck...Read more >
Indonesians fled Jakarta office towers, shopping centers and apartment buildings in a panic Wednesday afternoon after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake...Read more >
Election day here is a holiday and as such the streets of Jakarta, normally chaotic, were shockingly quiet Wednesday as millions of Indonesians...Read more >
Featured: Special Projects
Oceans:
Assessing their health
After the Fall:
20 years since the Berlin Wall came down
Life, Death and the Taliban:
Videos and stories
Study Abroad:
Students report from the road
Living in the Shadows:
An intimate look at China's migrant workers
A World of Trouble:
The global economy in 20 hotspots
Comments:
No Comments.
Login or Register to post comments