PUTRAJAYA, April 13 — Australia will also release the Sabah Air plane crash reports which killed the then Sabah Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens along with several state Cabinet members in 1976, and Malaysia has no objection to it, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
Loke said the Australian side was prepared to release their report.
“No issue for them to release their report on their side,” he told reporters after witnessing Interim Stage Bus Support Fund (ISBSF) signing ceremony here today.
Loke said Malaysia had communicated with the Australian government through their high commission in Malaysia on the timing of the report to be released.
“The Australian side respects our government because the accident happened in Malaysia and they have asked for our opinion and approval to release the report,” he said.
The crash, dubbed as ‘Double Six Tragedy’, involved an Australian-made Nomad 9M-ATZ aircraft operated by Sabah Air carrying prominent personalities from Labuan, which crashed in Sembulan district while approaching Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Sabah, on June 6, 1976.
The final report of the investigation into the Sabah Air plane crash has been classified as an open document and can be accessed on the Transport Ministry’s website starting April 12.
Eleven lives were lost in the tragedy including top leaders of the Sabah Government at the time, namely Fuad (Chief Minister of Sabah); Datuk Peter Joinod Mojuntin (Sabah Housing and Local Government Minister); Datuk Chong Thien Vun (Sabah Minister of Communications and Public Works) and Datuk Salleh Sulong (Sabah Minister of Finance).
Also perished were Datuk Darius Binion (Assistant Minister to the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah); Datuk Wahid Peter Andau (Permanent Secretary of the Sabah Ministry of Finance); Dr Syed Hussein Wafa (Director of the Sabah Economic Planning Unit) and Ishak Atan (Secretary to the Malaysian Finance Minister).
Corporal Said Mohammad (personal bodyguard to the Chief Minister); Johari Fuad Stephens (son of the Chief Minister) and Gandhi J Nathan (pilot of the 9M-FTZ aircraft) were also killed.
Local media today quoted Fuad’s family as saying that Malaysia’s declassification of the report on the tragedy will not give a complete picture unless Australia’s reports on the matter are also released.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on April 5 said the decision to reveal the final report of the Double Six Tragedy was made after taking into account the demands of the next of kin as well as the views of the people of Sabah who wanted detailed information about the incident.
On March 8, the media reported that the High Court in Sabah ordered Putrajaya to take the necessary steps to declassify the report.
