Daddy’s boy: “If he had been around, I would have had the benefit of his guidance”.
Samantha Rae, Borneo Insider
Daddy’s boy: “If he had been around, I would have had the benefit of his guidance”.
KOTA KINABALU: An 11-year old Donald was playing badminton with his younger brother Charles to kill time while waiting for their Minister dad, Peter Mojuntin to return from Labuan.
Dad never returned home that day. The next time Donald and family saw Peter, he was lying in a Sabah flag-draped casket.
Instead, the Mojuntin siblings saw an ashen-faced and anxious maternal grandfather, Datuk Lidwin Mobijohn who drove to the house compound and got his daughter Nancy (wife of Peter) to come into the house.
The ‘Golden Son of the Kadazan’ had died.
Peter was among 11 people which included then Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens and two other Cabinet colleagues who perished in the Double Six tragedy in 1976.
Despite that incident taking place 37 years ago, Donald who went on to emulate his father by winning the Penampang Parliament seat (2004) and the Moyog State seat (2008) vividly recalls that tragic day.
“Dad had an engagement later that evening as he was to officiate at the finals of the Datuk Peter Mojuntin Shield (football) in Penampang. As you know, he never made it.
“We were waiting for him to come back from Labuan where we only knew he was on official state business. The next thing we knew, granddad and mum got back into the car and drove off. Mum was in tears,” said Donald when met at the Double Six memorialWednesday.
“We were not told anything then but later found out that mum was taken to the hospital to wait for the bodies of dad and his colleagues which were being extricated from the crashed plane.
“Soon people started streaming to the house, all grim-faced and rather quiet. They were all sad and we knew something (bad) had happened.
“It was all a blur after that. The body was brought home from the hospital. Dad looked like he was asleep as he was the only one who had the least injury from the impact.
A fiery politician who brooked no nonsense
A bronze monument of the late Peter Mojuntin stands majestically close to Buhavan Square in Donggongon. Perhaps the Penampand Council should take more care in maintaining a local hero.
“The next thing I knew we were all busy with the funeral arrangements and there were so many people in the house with hardly any space to move.
“The rest is history, as they say,” he added.
The late Peter was a fiery politician who brooked no nonsense and he often took former Chief Minister, the late Tun Mustapha Harun to task for alleged misdeeds, and he was much loved by the Kadazan community.
Donald admitted that it took quite a while for the family to come to terms with what had happened.
“Time is a healer and we all had to move on. After I finished my education and got involved in politics in the early 90s,” he said.
Donald stressed that the state leaders who perished in the crash had epitomized real unity in Sabah.
“They represented a common purpose, irrespective of race, religion,” he said, adding “I think that era was one of the best times (in Sabah’s political history).
“For us now, we can perhaps learn an invaluable lesson from that tragedy. We need to get people together without due consideration of race, religion. No hang ups about race or religion. We should be Sabahans.”
He was of the opinion that the unity of the past is not felt in Sabah at the moment and he felt that the people are still searching for it.
Donald’s regret; “If he (Peter) had still been around, it would have been better because I would have had his guidance. Ironically, because of the incident I had no inclination (then) to be in politics.
Donald also expressed his gratitude to the state government for organizing the annual memorial, adding that he hopes that people will take opportunity to learn more about Sabah’s history.
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