KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - A Malaysian man is suing his ex-fiancee in an Islamic court after her father broke off their engagement via mobile phone text messages, a report said Tuesday.

Muhammad Salleh Muhamad Yusuf, a 46-year-old graphic designer, is demanding more than 70,000 ringgit from 28-year-old Nur Diana Ahmad Zubir to cover the cost of cancelled wedding preparations.

The pair had planned to marry on January 17, but Nur Diana's father last month sent two text messages to the would-be groom to end the relationship, Muhammad Salleh's lawyer said according to the official news agency Bernama.

"They got engaged based on mutual consent. The plaintiff did not know why his fiancee broke off the engagement," lawyer Ahmad Nazib Johari said.

This is not the first text-message tiff to end up in a Malaysian court.

Three years ago, a senator was fined in an Islamic court for divorcing his wife by sending her a text message and leaving a voicemail on her mobile phone. --AFP