Section 43

all local rates and land tax due from the bankrupt at the date of the bankruptcy order and having become due and payable within twelve months next before that time;

income tax and other assessed taxes assessed on the bankrupt up to the 31 December next before the date of the bankruptcy order and not exceeding in the whole one year’s assessment;

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all wages or salary of any clerk, servant, labourer or workman not exceeding one thousand ringgit for each whether payable for time or piece work or whether or not payable wholly or in part by way of commission in respect of services rendered to the bankrupt during the period of five months next before the date of the bankruptcy order or the date of the termination of his service if the latter occurs within twelve months of and precedes the date of the bankruptcy order:

Provided that, where any clerk, servant, labourer or workman has entered into a contract for the payment of his wages or any part thereof in a lump sum at the end of the year of hiring, the priority under this section shall extend to the whole of such sum, or a part thereof, as the court may decide to be due under the contract, proportionate to the time of service up to the date of the bankruptcy order;

all amounts due in respect of contributions payable during the twelve months before the date of the bankruptcy order by the bankrupt as the employer of any person under any law relating to provident funds; and

all amounts due in respect of workmen’s compensation under any law relating to workmen’s compensation accrued before the date of the bankruptcy order.

The foregoing debts shall rank equally between themselves, and shall be paid in full unless the property of the bankrupt is insufficient to meet them, in which case they shall abate in equal proportions between themselves.

In the case of partners the joint estate shall be applicable in the first instance in payment of their joint debts, and the separate estate of each partner shall be applicable in the first instance in payment of his separate debts. If there is a surplus of the separate estates it shall be dealt with as part of the joint estate. If there is a surplus of the joint estate it shall be dealt with as part of the respective separate estates in proportion to the right and interest of each partner in the joint estate.

Subject to this Act all debts proved in the bankruptcy shall be paid pari passu.

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If there is any surplus after payment of the foregoing debts, the surplus shall not be applied in any payment of interest after the date of the bankruptcy order to any creditor on any debt proved in the bankruptcy, except for the payment of interest to a secured creditor under subsection 8(2a).

Interest on debts

Where a debt has been proved upon a debtor’s estate and such debt includes interest or any pecuniary consideration in lieu of interest, such interest or consideration shall for the purposes of dividend be calculated at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum up to the date the bankruptcy order is granted by the court.

This section shall have effect subject to any written law relating to partnership in force in any part of Malaysia.

Where an interim receiver has been appointed before the making of the bankruptcy order the date of such appointment shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to be the date of the bankruptcy order.

Preferential claim in case of apprenticeship and in respect of passage money