PUTRAJAYA: There have been many theories and much speculation and mud-slinging but to this day, no one really knows what happened on the fateful evening of June 6, 1976, when several top senior leaders died in a plane crash.
Now, 47 years on, the answers may be forthcoming with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announcing that the report on the crash would be declassified next week.
The decision to declassify the final report on the “Double Six” plane crash was to meet the demands of victims’ families who wanted information on what happened, the Prime Minister said.
He said the decision was made after receiving feedback from the public, particularly Sabahans, as the incident had raised questions and caused anguish over the past 47 years.
“All these years, the government has made no decision on the matter. The families and the public in Sabah want to know the findings of the report.
“In line with the unity government’s aim for transparency and openness, the Cabinet has decided to declassify the final report on the incident,” he told a press conference after chairing the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
The full report is expected to be released by the Transport Ministry.
To a question, Anwar said the Attorney General’s Chambers had presented its views to the Cabinet.
“It is their duty to advise the Cabinet so that it is fully aware of the implications (in declassifying the report) and also because it is a matter of precedence and legal complications.
“After looking at the concerns, we feel we owe it to the public, the people of Sabah and the victims’ families to release the report.
“I don’t believe the findings should be classified under the Official Secrets Act,” the Prime Minister said.
On March 10, the Federal Government had filed an appeal against the decision by the High Court, which ordered the declassification of the investigation report on the crash that killed 11 people, including then Sabah chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens.
The investigation report on the plane crash, one of the darkest moments in Sabah’s history, had been under wraps since 1976.
The Nomad aircraft was not fitted with a flight data recorder.
Fuad, along with state ministers Datuk Salleh Sulong, Datuk Peter Mojuntin and Chong Thien Vun, died in the ill-fated flight on June 6, 1976.
They were on a flight from Labuan when the aircraft crashed in Sembulan, while approaching the Kota Kinabalu International Airport.
Others who perished were state assistant minister Darius Binion, Sabah Finance Ministry permanent secretary Datuk Wahid Peter Andau, Isak Atan (private secretary to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was then finance minister), Syed Hussein Wafa (director of state economic planning unit), Kpl Said Mohammad (Fuad’s bodyguard), pilot Capt Ghandi Nathan and Fuad’s eldest son Johari Stephens.
