Mahadev Shankar JCA:

[1] The appellant (the husband) married the respondent (the wife) in 1976 according to Chinese rites. He was then a reporter with the New Straits Times Group attached to the Berita Harian. She was a telephone operator in Nanyang Siang Pau. He was a divorcee with two sons from his first marriage. They were then aged 6 and 5 years respectively. He was then 34 years old. She was 28.

[2] The parties then cohabited with his mother at 24, Jalan 20/7, Petaling Jaya, his two sons, his brother and his brother's wife. A daughter was born to them in February 1977. In November that year the husband and wife went through a Civil Marriage at the Marriage Registry in Petaling Jaya. In February 1980 they had a second daughter.

[3] In 1982 the husband, wife and two daughters moved to the ground floor of No 8, Jalan 20/7, Petaling Jaya. The upstairs which had a separate entrance was then occupied by a tenant. At or about the time the couple moved in with their two daughters the mother transferred her half share in that house to the husband who thus became its sole owner. This house became the matrimonial home.

[4] In 1989 the mother died. The two sons, now 19 and 18 respecti