Sharma J (delivering oral JUDGMENT):

This is an application by Mr. Shoo Khoon Lee for an ad hoc admission under s. 8A of the Advocates and Solicitors Ordinance, 1947. The relevant provisions are laid down in sub-section (2) (a) which reads: "No person shall be admitted to practise as an advocate and solicitor under sub-section (1) unless

(a) for the purpose of that particular case he has, in the opinion of the Court, special qualifications or experience of a nature not available amongst advocates and solicitors in Malaysia.

The fate of the application depends entirely on the meaning and interpretation of sub-section (2) (a) of s. 8A. S 8A seems aimed at harmonising the interests of the advocates and solicitors of Malaysia with the wishes of a particular litigant who desires to retain a particular lawyer, such particular lawyer being a person who but for the amendments recently made, would have been a "qualified person" under the Advocates and Solicitors Ordinance, 1947.