Mohd. Ghazali bin Mohd. Yusoff J:

Both these applications (encls. 3 and 5) which were made under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act, 1976 (hereafter referred to as "the said Act) were heard together at the request of both parties.

The parties were married on 23 May 1953 and divorced on 4 August 1988. On 10 November 1986, that is, prior to the decree nisi being made absolute, the Court, by consent, ordered inter alia, the following:

(a) that the respondent do pay to the petitioner monthly maintenance of RM500 commencing 1 August 1986, and

(b) that the respondent do transfer to the petitioner all his 253/1038 undivided share in the property comprised in Geran No. 13645 Lot No. 2552, Bandar Maharani, Johor.

In 1994, the petitioner obtained leave to issue a judgment summons (encl. 3) against the respondent for having defaulted in his payments for maintenance and consequently the respondent filed an application (encl. 5) for an order to rescind the said maintenance order. In accordance with the Divorce and Matrimonial Proceedings Rules 1980 (hereafter referred to as "the said Rules") the respondent was examined on oath as to his means. The respondent explained that he is suffering from several ailments and currently has no permanent work; since the divorce in 1988 he has been working as a petition writer and has no regular income. He explained that his income is now between RM100 to RM300 per month and at times even less than that. He admits he has been very irregular in making the monthly payments to the petitioner and explained that he can no longer afford to do so. He stated that he had even gone to the extent of borrowing money to meet the monthly payments to avoid having a judgment summons issued against him as he is fearful of being committed to prison for nonpayment.

He explained that in 1974, whilst he was married to the petitioner, he married another woman and is currently dependent upon the latter for financial support. He does not own any property now as everything he owned has been sold. He admits that he used to gamble at the casino in Genting Highlands, Malaysia but has ceased such activities five years ago. He has two children from his second marriage and admits that both are studying in Australia but states that they are being supported by his second wife, who is now 55 years old and has retired from her job - she was a "nursing sister". She had sold her property to maintain the two children and is now doing odd-jobs to meet their living expenses.

He added that he is now 60 years old and claims that he is in poor health. To support his claim, he produced a letter from his doctor which states that he is suffering from gout since 1970, diabetes since 1973 and has mild hypertension since 1990. He also produced another letter from a consultant eye surgeon which states that his eyesight (right eye) is failing and is now restricted only to sighting of hand movements.

The respondent pointed out that the petitioner is now living comfortably with their daughter from that marriage and that the daughter is married to a person who is employed at managerial level in a company. He contended that there have been material changes in the circumstances since the Court order in 1986 wherein he had consented to pay monthly maintenance in the sum of RM500 and prays that the said order be rescinded.

In her affidavit the petitioner has contended that she is also in poor health and to support her contention has attached to her affidavit a bill for S$1,850 issued by Mount Elizabeth Hospital Ltd., Singapore which shows that she had undergone a thyroid operation in 1992 and was admitted for one night at the said hospital. She further contended that the respondent can afford to pay the monthly maintenance and to support her contention has attached to her affidavit three copies of envelopes used by the respondent to send her the monthly payments; she argued that these envelopes were obtained from hotels in Hong Kong, Singa