Former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh is hoping that the declassification of the "Double Six" plane crash report will clear him of accusations regarding his involvement in the tragedy.
Harris (above), who succeeded the late Fuad Stephens as chief minister the same year of the crash, has been accused of involvement in the incident by certain Sabah leaders for 47 years.
Fuad was one of the 11 who perished in the crash involving the Australian-made Nomad 9M-ATZ aircraft.
“They have continued the slander despite meagre statements by the government as to reasons for the crash and production of a documentary video by an Australian investigative reporter,” The Star reported Harris as saying.
He argued that the Nomad plane was not fit to fly due to its faulty design, as it had been involved in as many as 32 crashes worldwide, resulting in 76 fatalities.
He also mentioned an Australian documentary video titled “Lies in the Sky”, which was presented to the Sabah High Court in 1995, as evidence that the plane was not fit to fly.
“I hope those Sabah leaders who have accused me of being involved will accept (the) findings in the investigation report surrounding the Nomad plane crash at Sembulan, Kota Kinabalu and stop propagating their unproven conspiracies," Harris said.
He thanked Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for making the report public and announced that he is also suing the Australian government over its previous claim that it could not release its version of the investigation report as requested by the Malaysian government.
“The Malaysian government has denied this. It is hoped that the Australian government will release its report now that our government has decided to declassify the Malaysian investigation report," he concluded.
Yesterday, Anwar announced that the government will declassify the federal investigation report on the 1976 plane crash and that the full report would be made public by the Transport Ministry next week.
The prime minister stated that the decision to release the report in full was in the interest of the victims' families and the people of Sabah.
Known as the “Double Six” crash, the report has remained classified for close to five decades.
Also killed in the June 6 incident were then-state ministers Salleh Sulong, Peter Mojuntin and Chong Thien Vun.
Others who lost their lives in the tragedy were state assistant minister Darius Binion, Sabah Finance Ministry permanent secretary Wahid Peter Andau, Isak Atan (private secretary to then-finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah), Said Mohammad (Fuad’s bodyguard), pilot Gandhi Nathan and Fuad’s eldest son, Johari Stephens. - Mkini
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