Mano, Oh Mano...

It seems that one can never get enough of Manohara. Well, it would seem that this is what her handlers think. Mano and her handlers are certainly courting the media at every opportunity, and getting her involved in all manner of things. The latest venture is a request to the Indonesian Constitutional Court for a judicial review of the interim law (Peraturan Pemerintah Pengganti Undang-Undang / Perpu) that authorized the Bank Century bailout.

This is not to say that the Bank Century bailout is not worthy of a judicial review of the Constitutional Court. The scandal, and it is a scandal, is probably worthy of some deeper investigation and maybe even warrants some criminal charges down the track. However, Mano's constitutional rights to claim the judicial review are the same as myriad of other Indonesians, and the cynical among us would consider this to be nothing more than opportunism with respect to getting her name in the papers and on TV.

I have not seen anything nor read anything that Manohara has said or written that would suggest that she has the capacity to understand the legal intricacies of a Constitutional Court challenge. So, perhaps it is time that she enlightened us in her own words on why it is necessary to bring such a challenge and discuss and explain a little the legal issues she is seeking to resolve at the Constitutional Court.

Her lawyers, including Farhat Abbas, have suggested that the case is a reflection of her commitment to ridding Indonesia of corruption, and of concerns she has as a good citizen of Indonesia that her tax money has gone to bailing out corruptors, and that the perpu is nothing more than legal protection for those involved. As I said, I would like to hear her articulate these things in her own words.

While she is doing that, she might also like to articulate on the case involving her mother and the alleged abuse of a domestic servant in France for which Daisy Fajarina, her mother, was convicted of and sentenced to 18 months in jail in absentia. Of particular interest would be why her mother has not returned to France to either contest the matter on appeal or to serve here sentence like a good citizen.

Meanwhile, I guess we will be hearing only from the lawyers and the media representatives, with a few sound bites tossed in for effect.

Oh well!

Manohara, Corruption, and Cemeteries

I have decided not to go with the traditional Manohara post heading. I think we are up to the mid-twenties or something, but who really cares about that.

There is one thing you have to acknowledge about Manohara and her handlers, they are master manipulators of the media. Manohara is often referred to as a teen sinetron star. Yet, her only foray into sinetron, or Indonesian soap operas, was axed after not fully completing a whole season. There are obviously diverse opinions on why that is, but it seems that the self-titled soap opera was not a big ratings winner once the novelty wore off.

In any event, this has not been a deterrent to Manohara or those handling her public image. She seems to have this uncanny knack of being everywhere that there is a photo opportunity. Most recently she turned up at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout to support a demonstration by the "Red and White Troops" focusing on anti-corruption.

The thrust of the demonstration or protest was that corruption is bad and that convicted corruptors need to be socially stigmatized in life and in death. In death, meaning that the government should set aside special pieces of land to build cemeteries for corruptors. Personally, this seems a tad unnecessary, particularly for god-fearing people. Simply, if corruption is the evil many of us believe it to be then it would seem pretty obvious that God is unlikely to reward corruptors no matter where they are buried.

And, if there is no God then it does not really matter where corruptors commence their worm food journey, does it?

In the understatement of the day category Manohara piped up that she hope that Indonesia will one day be corruption free. Don't we all, Mano?

She went onto say that she hopes corruptors are severely punished and that where those corruptors are government employees that they are fired. This was topped off by a call for unity in the fight against corruption that would see the KPK, the Police, and the Office of the Attorney General reunited in their common cause, corruption eradication.

Although, the best part of the Manohara saga is how she refers to herself in the third person. It is almost like she is not there when she is talking about herself. One quote attributed to her is, “Mano is not afraid to get dark (from the sun). Mano could get in the car but any people out here have to stand the heat.”

I am wondering though, if Mano and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, are so concerned about law and order, then why did they not deal with the case against them in Malaysia which resulted in a rather large default judgment against them? Or why Daisy insists in not finalizing the legal issues pertaining to her alleged abuse of a domestic servant whilst living in France?

People who live in glass houses probably should not throw stones (or walk around naked :D).

Noordin M Top -- Forensic Pathology Exam...

The reports in local Indonesian papers have picked up on the results of the forensic pathology exam conducted on the recently departed terrorist, Noordin M Top, which say that his anus is shaped like a funnel and the pathologist suspects that he had been sodomized. The doctor that carried out the exam is none other than Mun'im Idris. Idris is the same forensic pathologist that performed the Manohara exam. Idris must be the "go to man" for the high profile forensic exams.

Idris states that the forensic exam of Noordin's anus suggests that he has been sodomized at some point in his life. The good doc calls the funnel shape an anomaly, ahhh no kiddin'! I guess if it is out of the ordinary for people to have a funnel shaped anus, then I am guessing "anomaly" is probably the right word. I am wondering though whether it was a normal shaped funnel or an inverted funnel. I am not sure why I am wondering this though. Never mind.

Idris believes that his findings prove that Noordin has been sodomized. Now, the question is whether he was sodomized by someone else or did he do the deed himself. Despite being on the run for almost a decade he hardly wanted for female companionship seeing that he was married a number of times after going on the run. Then again months on end with the fellas and no female companionship might have taken its toll.

Then again, maybe this particular anomaly is the result of some crafty explosive transfers. It is said that concealing explosives inside you can fool the odd metal detector or two. I am guessing it might be a little tricky to fit a full-assembled explosive device in the space available, but perhaps Noordin and some of his companions could have transported a part each and then assembled the device once they got to wherever they were headed.

Ahhh, who really cares and why bother with the speculation. The man believed he was on a mission from God to kill as many non-believers as he could, and now that mission is over. And, what's more, he now gets to find out whether he really was on a mission from God or if it was all a misinterpretation and he is off to the fires of hell. I am going to go out on a limb here and say he was sadly mistaken and when he gets to front up for judgment he will be shuffled off to the fires of hell. The killing of innocents is not justified!

The papers are reporting that it is unclear why Idris released the findings. Not really, the man likes to see his name in print and what better way to get it there than release the forensic findings about Noordin's anomaly, aka funnel-shaped anus. It really is not that difficult to work out.

There has been some speculation about Noordin's sexual preferences. My question is, does it matter? Or is this being set up to suggest some kind of causal link between terrorists and sexual orientation. Will we soon be hearing that the big terrorist himself, Osama bin Laden, also has an anomaly? This whole thing about the anomaly is so much a beat up of next to no importance, unless terrorists are using their bodies to transport explosives.

I am not sure if I want to visualize a group of terrorists sitting around the lounge room deciding who is carrying what. Oh, Noordin with your anomaly you should be able to carry at least three sticks of TNT. And, Azahari Husin (before he wsa topped back in 2005) with your anomaly you should be able to carry a kilo of semtex. The mind boggles, doesn't it?

Noordin's family is expected to claim his body on Friday. According to police the investigation has been concluded.