KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - An indigenous man in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo Island was fined a buffalo and a pig for breaking a tribal custom by secretly marrying a second wife, a tribal court official said Wednesday. The 39-year-old man was asked to compensate his first wife and children with a buffalo and a pig even though he agreed to dissolve the second marriage and return to his first wife and family, Kota Kinabalu Native Court chief William Majimbun told The Associated Press.
The court handles cases only relating to laws of the native indigenous people in Sabah.
Majimbun said the man, whose identity has been withheld, performed the second marriage secretly in a remote village in 2003.
"Indigenous custom doesn't normally punish men who marry a second time, but in this case, he did not get the permission of the first wife," Majimbun said. "The case was handled based on customary laws."
Native Courts in Sabah's 21 districts function alongside the civil and Islamic Sharia courts, and are presided over by district chiefs assisted by tribe leaders, according to The Star newspaper.
Kadazans and other indigenous people make up less than 5 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people, although the groups represent the majority in the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo.
