Prior to colonization by western powers, a form of rudimentary, tribal legal
system was said to exist on the Peninsula. Various aboriginal tribes had
been in occupation of the Peninsula as well as Borneo long before foreign
settlers arrived. Although their laws were primitive and unwritten, their
organizational abilities were adequate and served as a model for later Malay
villages or kampongs. For example, the head of the village
or penghulu was an organizational social structure derived
from the Negrito tribe. The penghulu of
any village or kampong usually had full civil and criminal
powers over his flock.