Patin Promise, by :):(
Once upon a time, a fisherman named Awang Gading found a baby by the river. He brought her back and raised her like his own daughter. He named her Dayang Kumunah and she grew up to be a beautiful woman. One day, a wealthy young man named Awang Usop saw Dayang by the river. Immediately struck by her beauty, he proposed to her, and she agreed, on the one condition that he must never make her laugh.
After many happy years together, the man watched their children laugh and play. He wanted his wife to join in, but still, she refused to laugh. After much coaxing and playful teasing, she broke into a fit of laughter. Realising what she had done, she covered her face in shame and ran into the river. The husband gave chase, only to find his wife in her glorious true form: an ikan patin.
Grieved that her husband had broken his oath, she began swimming away. Right before she left, she told her husband to take care of their children, and reminded him that his future generations can never eat an ikan patin as it is as if they are consuming their own kind.
Thus, is the story why many Sarawakian Malay are forbidden to consume ikan patin.