[UPDATED] Cabinet agrees to declassify Sabah Double Six air crash report: PM

KUALA LUMPUR – The cabinet has today agreed to declassify the final investigation report on the tragic Double Six air crash in Sabah, 47 years after the disaster took place, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced.  

The Prime Minister said the decision took into account the views shared by state, family members and the people of Sabah, demanding for greater transparency into the fatal accident that killed then Sabah chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens and 10 others.  

“We know the issue has raised a lot of questions and anxiety, because Sabahans want to know the result of the probe. All this while, past governments decided not to declassify the report, which is under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA).

“As such, we (cabinet) have today decided that the final report into the air disaster be declassified,” he said in a press conference today after the cabinet meeting this morning.

“Further information will be disseminated through an official statement by the government and the Transport Ministry.”

The report should be made available within the next week, although certain details will be released in the next couple of days, he added.

On the legal implications of the declassification to the government, Anwar said the Attorney-General’s Chambers has given its advice on the matter to the cabinet.  

“However, we feel we owe it to the people, more so those in Sabah. I don’t believe findings such as these, which are facts and of concern to the families, state and the public, should be kept as an official secret.” 

Anwar’s announcement today comes three weeks after the federal government filed an appeal to overturn the Kota Kinabalu High Court’s order to declassify the probe report into the crash involving Sabah Air’s GAF N-22B Nomad aircraft. 

Former chief minister Tan Sri Harris Mohd Salleh, who succeeded Fuad as the head of the Sabah government following the ill-fated crash, filed the review application to make the classified report public. 

State ministers Datuk Salleh Sulong, Datuk Peter Mojuntin and Chong Thien Vun were among those who perished in the air crash on June 6, 1976.  

They were on a flight from Labuan when the aircraft crashed in Sembulan while approaching the Kota Kinabalu International Airport. 

The investigation report, which took a few months to complete, has been classified under OSA since.  

Speculation surrounded the crash as it occurred while those onboard had been travelling home after their party Berjaya won the 1976 election which ousted Usno. – The Vibes, April 5, 2023