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Kinabatangan member of parliament Bung Mokhtar Radin was sentenced to a month's jail by the Gombak Timur Syariah Lower Court yesterday for committing polygamy without the court's consent. He will, however, appeal within 14 days to the Syariah High Court against the sentence, The Star reports. His lawyer, Amli Embong, said both Bung Mokhtar, 51, and his second wife, Zizie Ezette Abd Samad, 32, an actress, would file an application to validate their marriage soon. Zizie, who was charged with abetment, was fined RM1,000 or six months' jail. She was also charged with getting married without the consent of the registrar of marriages while Bung Mokhtar was charged with abetting her. For these offences, both were fined RM1,000 or a month's jail. Judge Wan Mahyuddin Wan Muhammad, in passing the sentence, said that as an MP, he should set a good example to the people. In his judgment, Wan Mahyuddin said Bung Moktar and Zizie were icons and the people would emulate their actions. "If they don't follow the rules, it would appear that rules can be belittled by influential people," he said, adding that the court needed to pass a severe penalty for society's sake. Bung Mokhtar later said: "The court has made its decision. I was not expecting anything in particular."

Malaysian MP gets a month's jail for polygamy