Express’ Double Six plea for PM

Kota Kinabalu: Federal Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has agreed to take up a Daily Express suggestion to raise the issue of declassifying the findings of the Nomad air crash (pic) of 1976 directly with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin as the only way for family members of those involved and Sabahans, generally, to know what really caused the tragedy.

“I will officially write to the Prime Minister because I have raised this question in parliament to request for the government to give consent for the release of this. “After all, it has been a long time and nothing to do with him (Muhyiddin), nothing to do with this government (Perikatan Nasional) but it has everything to do with the governments before,” he told Daily Express in an exclusive interview at his Sokid Villa residence. “Why not allow this thing to go through so that there is closure. Otherwise, eventually more and more people will raise questions and then it becomes politicised. If we release it, whatever the content (findings) it will stop the questioning and the theorising and the speculations,” he said.

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Daily Express had suggested to Jeffrey, who is Keningau Member of Parliament and Tambunan Assemblyman, that Sabah is now in a better position to know the mystery surrounding the crash that claimed the lives of 11 people, including Chief Minister Tun Mohd Fuad Stephens and half his newly-victorious Berjaya Cabinet which toppled the Usno Government a month earlier.

Jeffrey

Among the newly-appointed Ministers who went down with the Australian-built plane on June 6, 1976 that came to be called Double Six off Sembulan when about to land from a flight from Labuan were Datuk Peter Mojuntin, Datuk Salleh Sulong, Datuk Chong Tain Vun and Datuk Darius Binion.

The Australian Government has the past 44 years refused to declassify the findings, stressing that there had been a request by the Malaysian Government not to do so without its consent.

Dr Jeffrey had consistently raised the matter of declassification of the Australian findings in parliament but without success over the years because he was in the opposition. Others that had done so include the SAPP, also from Sabah’s opposition. On the question of also going to the State Assembly to file a motion on the matter to compel the federal government to act, he said: “Yes. I can do that.”

Recently, Jeffrey had expressed intention of raising the matter through a family member of Sulong but agreed that communicating the matter directly with Muhyiddin would be a better option, adding it may even endear the PN federal government with Sabahans as having been able to do something that neither the Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan Government achieved for Sabahans in four decades.

“I have been in contact with one particular family member, Iskandar Sulong, who is willing to come forward and do what is necessary to have a closure to this thing,” said Jeffrey.

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“He (Iskandar) said that his life has been a nightmare as long as there is no closure. So, I am quite confident that this time we have somewhere getting into this document. We also have a group of Sabahans, Sarawakians in Australia who have offered to help to approach the Australian Government provided that there is a family who is willing to work with them,” he said.

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