The Islamic sharia high court has ordered a member of the ruling Malay elite to pay his divorced first wife a M$11.2 million (HK$23 million) settlement, shocking the close-knit community, many of whom routinely divorce older wives to marry younger women.
Judge Hassan Shafie ordered Hamzah Zainuddin, 47, to pay Nooraini Rashid, 46, in cash and assets, including shares, land, a house, cars and jewellery.
The payout, based on Islamic law, is considered huge, even by secular legal standards.
Mr Hamzah, the chairman of Felcra, a land rehabilitation authority helping 700,000 poor farmers, is no ordinary VIP. He's a senior member of the dominant Umno party and a trusted ally of ex-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
In 1996, he divorced his wife of 22 years to marry a 25-year-old woman.
Mr Hamzah gained publicity in 1999 when he testified against former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim alleging he tried to seduce his 'glamorous' new wife.