Always in memory: Donald and his mother Nancy standing next to Mojuntin’s photo at their family residence in Penampang.
KOTA KINABALU: For the family of the late Datuk Peter J.Mojuntin, the memorial service of the “Double Six” plane crash every June 6 feels like old wounds bleeding again.
“The family has been trying to find peace ever since the tragedy,” said Datuk Donald Mojuntin, the eldest of Mojuntin’s five children.
“But every year, many questions and conspiracy theories have cropped up.”
The family had hoped the 47th anniversary this year would be remembered in a better way with the release of the investigation report but that hope has fallen flat.
“Each time we try to find some kind of solace, these question marks cause that peace to disappear,” said Donald, who was 11 when his father and 10 others were killed in the crash in 1976.
While thanking Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for making the investigation report public, he said the family felt it was incomplete and left them far from closure.
“Where is the forensic report on the wreckage to dispel any conspiracy theory once and for all?
“Why did witnesses say the pilot had an upset stomach?
“There were also claims by eyewitnesses that there was an explosion before the plane crashed into the sea.
“All these were not mentioned in the report. That just prolongs our agony,” Donald said.
The 20-page report stated that there was no evidence of “sabotage, fire or explosion” in the crash of the Australian-made Nomad N-22B 9M-ATZ aircraft.
Donald also reiterated his call for a probe into why a report that was straightforward had been placed under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
“If there is no conspiracy, dispel it once and for all. If there is something, then let the families decide what action to take.
“What is important is for us to find out more about the crash,” said Donald, who is also the deputy president of Upko, a Pakatan Harapan component party.
His mother and Mojuntin’s widow Datin Nancy Mary Mobijohn felt they were now further from the truth than before.
“I thought there would be something we never heard before, something ‘fantastic’ but it turned out to be the same old ‘bedtime stories’ we’ve been hearing for 47 years.
“To me, there’s nothing new,” said the 77-year-old at the family’s residence in Kampung Hungab, Penampang.
“I don’t think (we will ever get the answers). I think it’s just a big gimmick in the papers, just trying to make us happy, to look forward to something.
“It’s okay, what can we do? We just try to make things better for us the family, we try to be happy. You cannot get everything in this world.”
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick, who handed over the official investigation report to the Mojuntin family yesterday, said the government had yet to receive an official request from the families over the probe.
“I understand the families’ feelings but what’s important now that it has been made public.
“Maybe the report was different from what the people had expected but my role was to convince the Cabinet to release the report. I have carried out my responsibility.
“I can’t comment why the report was put under the OSA,” he said.
Ewon also handed the report to Datin Jikilin Binion, 88, widow of the late state assistant minister Datuk Darius Binion.
On receiving the letter, Jikilin could not stop talking about that fateful day before her husband left home to fly with chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens.
“I had made breakfast – eggs, I believe – and he (Darius) was bathing when Tun Fuad’s car arrived, honking for him to hurry up and leave.
“I asked him to take some food before leaving. The last he said to me was ‘Bah, saya jalan dulu (OK, I am going now),” she said before breaking down in silent tears.
