Arifin Zakaria J:

[1] This is an application by the defendant under O 23 of the Rules of the High 1980 for security for costs to be furnished by the plaintiff. The defendant filed a total of 4 affidavits in support of his application. (Enclosure 6A, 18A, 26A and 29A). The plaintiff filed 3 affidavits in reply. (Enclosures 15A, 21A and 27A). The plaintiff is a citizen of the Republic of Singapore, and having no permanent resident status in Malaysia. The plaintiff has been a regular visitor to

[2] Malaysia since 1990. During the pendency of this application the plaintiff had been adjudged bankrupt pursuant to bankruptcy petition no 29-69-1994 in the High Court of Malaya at Kuantan.

Preliminary Objection

[3] When this matter came up for hearing on 14 January 1995 Mr Jagdeep Singh, Counsel for the plaintiff, raised a preliminary objection with regard to this application. He stated that, since the plaintiff had been adjudged bankrupt this may give rise to problem of compliance because of s 8(1) of the Bankruptcy Act 1967. He contended that an order for security for costs would amount to a debt provable under s 8(1) of the Bankruptcy Act thus, the Official Assignee would be an aggri