On June 6, 1976 a small plane carrying the then chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens and 10 others crashed as it was coming down for a landing. All on board was killed.
Others who died were cabinet ministers Salleh Sulong, Peter Mojuntin, Chong Thain Vun and Darius Binion, top Sabah Ministry of Finance official Wahid Peter Andau, Director of Economic Planning Unit of Sabah Syed Hussein Wafa, Isak Atan (Private Secretary to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah), Fuad’s son Johari, Corporal Said Mohammad (Stephens bodyguard) and the pilot Captain Nathan Gandhi.
Stephens and his colleagues in the new state government had flown to Labuan to negotiate the extraction of Sabah’s oil and they had reportedly refused to sign away the state’s oil rights in return for a 5% royalty.
Source : Malaysia Today
Fuad Stephens and his Cabinet Members “POLITICALLY ASSASSINATED” ?
As sure as an orphan would want to know his parents, Sabahans want to and must know the truth as to what really happened on the 6th.June.1976.Was the death of Tun Fuad Stephens and his Cabinet members an accident or ‘accident’? Reliable sources claimed that the fatal Nomad Aircraft carrying Tun Fuad exploded in mid-air and dropped to the ground where a second explosion occurred. Why was the aircraft requested to circle and not given the green light to land?
Doesn’t the Chief Minister of Sabah take precedence over everyone? Did the control tower inform the pilot to circle because an Air force Hercules C-130 was about to take off? Reliable sources also claim there was no Hercules C-130 on the tarmac that was ready to take off on that day.
It is also tantamount to insubordination and an insult to the Chief Minister then, Tun Fuad. Harris Salleh in a recent press statement ( Daily Express dated 7th.April.2010 ) denounced this fact in what he claimed to be ” grossly inaccurate and carried away with pleasantries “.
Was the visit to the cattle farm more important than the historical event that was going to take place – which was the signing of the petroleum agreement between the Sabah Government and the Federal Government/Petronas? Was visiting this cattle farm in the agenda of Razaleigh’s visit? Who is now LYING ? The people of Sabah now demand to know the truth. Was this a ” political assassination “?
Researching this event gave me the opportunity to come into contact with many Sabahans who are still till this very day angered by the events that took place on the 6th.June.1976.Was there a ” BOMB ” planted in the ill-fated Nomad Aircraft ? If a bomb did exist who planted it and under whose instruction?
And who is Lee Kang Yu ? It was reliably learnt that Lee Kang Yu was a trusted aid and trustee to Harris Salleh, who fled to Hong Kong where he later passed away. His thumb print had to be used for verification for withdrawal of assets before he could be laid to rest.
Did Lee Kang Yu plant a bomb in the Nomad Aircraft, and who gave the instruction? Among the first person to be at the crash site was senior information officer,TK Wong,who lived a few metres from the crash site.Ironically,the police arrived almost immediately and condoned off the entire area.No known report was submitted by the Information Department to the State Security Committee on the ill-fated crash,why?
In the purported conversation between Tengku Razaleigh and Tun Fuad Stephens, pursuant to the oil royalty, Ku Li had claimed that Tun Fuad had agreed to the 5% oil royalty as Sarawak had earlier also agreed to the 5% oil royalty.Sabah and Sarawak have over the years till this day have had a brotherly relationship.
Now Sarawakians should be asking,did Rahman Yaakub agree to the 5% oil royalty? On the morning of the 6th.June.1976,Tun Fuad and his Cabinet Ministers flew to Labuan with an objective to re-negotiate. Tun Fuad was in total disagreement to the 5% oil royalty hence he brought his Cabinet Ministers to say their piece to Tengku Razaleigh. Did Tun Fuad and his Cabinet inform Tengku Razaleigh that if the Federal Government did not agree to his demand for an increased share percentage for Sabah, he would publicly announce that he was going to pull Sabah out of Malaysia?
Another interesting episode of the crash, was the inconsistent manner in which the Inquiry was conducted. The Magistrate concerned requested for a full re- investigation in “an open verdict” as reported in the newspapers but did the authorities re-investigate the crash ? Why not?Whose was the hidden hand that instructed the authorities NOT to re-investigate the crash? Perhaps the time has come for this Magistrate to appear and tell the truth.
Could history have changed for the better had Tun Fuad and his Cabinet Ministers not perished in that controversial crash? The truth must be told and the people of Sabah have every right to know the truth and no one has the right to say otherwise. I therefore urge the family members of Tun Fuad and his Cabinet Ministers to join and assist me as well as all right thinking Sabahans who till this day are devastated by the death of our warriors to demand for the truth to be told. The tears of many are still flowing, let us not remain persecuted by “cover- up’s “.
Source : Advocateviews
Sabah Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens was killed involved in a plane crash
Mysterious events have also aided the federal government. In 1976, after negotiating a 20 percent oil royalty with then Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh, then Sabah Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens was killed involved in a plane crash while on the way back to Kota Kinabalu with five of his state ministers. The new Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh, known for his pro-UMNO stance, agreed on a 5 percent royalty, rather than the 20 percent Tun Fuad had negotiated.
Harris Salleh while Chief Minister of Sabah also ceded the sovereignty of Labuan to the federal government in 1984. The transfer was on the basis of Sabah making a contribution to national integration. Harris was also a major landowner on the island and the transfer of Labuan received a very small compensation package compared to the transfer of Kuala Lumpur from Selangor to the federal government years earlier. The loss of Labuan’s sovereignty to the national government has been a contentious issue in Sabah for many years.
UMNO took advantage of political infighting within Sabah to directly enter into state politics. Through elections and defections, UMNO was successful in forming coalition governments from 1995 to the last federal election. The Sabah Heritage Party (WARISAN) part of Pakatan Harapan won over the state last year after six parliamentary members crossed over from the BN. Today, Sabah has lost effective autonomy to choose the state chief minister without support from the federal government.
The federal government has also changed Sabah’s population demographics, creating a Muslim majority in the state where Muslim dominated parties like UMNO and WARISAN could dominate local politics.
Since the 1960s Sabah’s population has increased by 400 percent, through what was dubbed project IC. Muslims have gone from being a minority to a majority group. Native groups like the Kadazan-Dusun which once dominated Sabah politics two decades ago have become a small minority, the subject of anger, criticism and even a Royal Commission without being redressed.
Source : Asia Sentinel
1976 Plane Crash: The Unanswered Questions
What is the difference between five percent and 20 percent? Well, anyone who has half a brain and who had not been asleep during math class in school will tell you that the answer is 15 percent – which is 20 minus five!
Let us convert this to figures and let us hypothesise the figure as RM10 billion.
Five percent of RM10 billion is RM500 million. Therefore 20 percent is exactly four times that amount. Twenty percent is therefore RM2 billion – witness how vast this difference is now.
Imagine a state government possessing the RM500,000 million to develop the vast state or to give it to its people. Now imagine the same state government in possession of four times that amount.
Now, instead of only having the monetary resources to provide aid to a quarter of the state’s population, the state government can now do the same to everybody – total coverage!
Let’s not even get to the full 100 percent, which is the RM10 billion.
Now assume that a powerful person in that same state, a tribal leader of sorts, has the influence and capacity to take that state out of the federation.
This would mean an income shortfall ranging from 80 to 95 percent of the RM10 billion.
Well, money isn’t everything but an action as such could propel other states into mimicking parallel actions and this is unquestionably something that must be prevented at all cost; collateral damage is damned.
Source : Malaysia Today
Anwar: ‘Double Six’ report on 1976 Sabah plane crash declassified, to be made public next week
The final report of the investigation into the Sabah Air plane crash that killed then Sabah chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens, along with several members of the state Cabinet in 1976, has been declassified and will be made public next week.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the report on the tragedy which was also dubbed as ‘Double Six’ as it occurred on June 6, 1976, has been declassified, in accordance with Section 2C of the Official Secrets Act 1972 (Act 88).
“The full report on the Sabah Air crash will be made public next week through an official statement from the government and also the Ministry of Transport,” he said at a press conference after chairing the Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday (April 5).
He said the decision was made in the interest of the victims’ families as well as the views of the people of Sabah who wanted detailed information about the incident.
Anwar said public disclosure regarding the report was also in line with the policy of openness and transparency practised by the unity government.
He said that many questions were raised as the people of Sabah wanted to know the results of the investigation team regarding the accident, after a lapse of 47 years.
“All this while, the government has not decided to make it public,” he said.
In the incident, an Australian-made Nomad 9M-ATZ aircraft operated by Sabah Air carrying the group on its way from Labuan, crashed in Sembulan district, while approaching Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Sabah.
On March 8, the media reported that the High Court in Sabah ordered Putrajaya to take the necessary steps to declassify the report on the incident and to make it public.
The Coverage Malaysia
