Denys Roberts CJ:

This is an appeal under s. 84 of the Probate and Administration Act, Cap 11, against an order made on 28 June by the Probate Officer.

This ordered that Mr. Lim Teck Lee, the assisting managing director of Borneo Insurance Sdn. Bhd. be appointed as an administrator of the estate of Mujah Ak Jayan, limited to the legal action instituted by the applicant against the estate of the deceased under the Fatal Accidents Acts and the Law Reform Act. He also ordered that the costs incurred by Mr. Lim Teck Lee as administrator be paid from the estate of Mujah and that the costs of the application before him be paid by the Borneo Insurance Sdn. Bhd.

It is against this order that Lim Teck Lee has appealed. The applicant, in the proceedings before the Probate Officer, was Dato Noordin bin Haji Mohd Noor, who asked for an order that Mr. Lim Teck Lee be appointed as an administrator of the estate of the deceased, Mujah Ak Jayan, or, if the Court thought Mr. Lim was not a proper person to be appointed as administrator, such other person as the Court thought fit should be appointed.

The applicant was granted letters of administration on 15 May 1990 by the Probate Officer, to administer the estates of Victor S. Quizon and Regelito D. Sison. On 30 December 1989 both were killed when driving a Nissan Pick-up from Kuala Belait towards Bandar Seri Begawan, in a collision with a Honda car driven BF 5887 by Mujah Ak Jayan, who was also killed.

According to an affidavit, sworn on behalf of the applicant, the Honda car, BF 5887, was owned by Sim Ka Ming and insured with Borneo Insurance Sdn. Bhd. The applicant said that he had done his best to find more information about Mujah but that he had failed to discover whether he had any relatives or family and did not even know where he lived or whether he had married or not. He carried out a search of the Probate Registry but nobody has been appointed as administrator of Mujah's estate.

The dilemma which faces the applicant is a real one. The Limitation Act obliges him to institute proceedings within 12 months of the death. This he wishes to do by the appointment of a person against whom he can bring the action. Section 32 of the Probate and Administration Act provides that:

Where a person dies wholly intestate as to his personal estate but without having appointed an executor thereof willing and competent to take probate, ...or where it appears to the Probate Officer to be necessary or convenient to appoint some person to be the administrator of the personal estate of the deceased or of any part of such estate..., it shall be lawful for the Probate Officer to appoint such other person as the Probate Officer thinks fit to be such administrator...

Section 32 also permits the Probate Officer to attach a limitation to the grant of letters of administration as indeed he did in this case by restricting the representation of Mr. Lim to the action to be brought by the applicant in relation to his death in the motor car accident.

It is to be noted in passing that, under English law, a Court is entitled to appoint a person to represent the estate of the deceased where in any proceeding it appears to the Court that the deceased was interested in the matter in question. There is no such restriction in s. 32 of the Brunei Act, which allows an appointment to be made whenever the Probate Officer thinks `it is necessary or convenient'; to do so.

Mr. Lim Teck Lee objected, both at the hearing before the Probate Officer and on the appeal, to his appointment as administrator. I can foresee some difficulty in his appointment because of the potential conflict, though I should make it clear that this factor was not mentioned to the Probate Officer by either party. If it had been, it is likely that he would have come to a different conclusion.

If Mr. Lim were appointed as administrator, there would be a real risk that a serious conflict of interest would arise, since he would be both the administrator of