Frenchman buried with tribal rite

Frenchman buried with tribal rite

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A 31-year-old Frenchman, Christophe
Payonne, who died on Monday from malaria, was buried according to
a tribal rite in the Kampung Gumum tribal village in the
interiors of Malaysia's central Pahang state.

It was Payonne's last wish that he be laid to rest according
to the tradition of orang asli -- as Malaysian tribesmen are
called -- said his Dutch friend Peter Arnold Vender Helm, who
claimed Payonne's body on Wednesday.

"It was his last wish to be buried in orang asli tradition,"
Bernama news agency quoted Helm as saying in Kuantan, the Pahang
state capital.

Helm, who is married to a Kampung Gumum tribeswoman, said he
met Payonne four years ago when the Frenchman was then on a brief
visit to Kampung Gumum.

Payonne's family in France had contacted the French embassy in
Kuala Lumpur, consenting to the burial, said Pahang's deputy
medical and health director Praphapa Senan.