KOTA KINABALU – The family members of former Sabah chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens who died in the Double-Six air crash said Malaysia’s declassification of an investigation report on the tragedy will not give a complete picture unless Australia’s reports on the matter are also released.
“In all fairness to the people and organisations that might be negatively mentioned in the report – such as the pilot – we feel that we won’t get a complete picture of the cause of this crash unless we see all the reports from Australia,” the family said in a statement last night.
“There are reports on the Nomad plane stashed away in the Australian Defence Ministry, Government Aircraft Factory reports (the plane’s manufacturer), and the many folios in the Australian Archives which have been hidden from public view.
“We need to push for the release of all these documents,” the family said.
In their statement, the family claimed they had written to the Australian Transport Ministry’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau in June 2020 to ask for a copy of the report on the crash 47 years ago involving Sabah Air’s Nomad N-22B 9M-ATZ.
They said they were told by the bureau it could not find a copy of the report, and if it were found, it would be classified.
Expressing gratitude that the Malaysian government had declassified its report, the family said it still failed to answer other questions over the secrecy of the report.
“Why was it given a security classification under the Official Secrets Act? Why was it not released when the crash happened?”
They noted that Stephens had served as the Malaysian high commissioner to Australia and worked in Canberra from 1967 to 1973. They said a number of his children had also studied in Australia.
“We all have a great fondness for the country. Most of us and our kids have studied there.
“But it is time the Australian government provided us with all the reports on the crash. It has been 47 years,” the family said.
Stephens and 10 others died in the crash that occurred on June 6, 1976.
The other fatalities included prominent individuals in Sabah politics at the time, namely state housing and local government minister Datuk Peter Mojuntin, state works and communication minister Datuk Chong Thien Vun, state finance minister Datuk Salleh Sulong, assistant minister for the chief minister Datuk Darius Binion, state Finance Ministry permanent secretary Datuk Wahid Peter Andau, Sabah Economic Planning Unit director Syed Hussein Wafa, federal finance minister secretary Ishak Atan, Stephens’ bodyguard Said Mohammad, Stephens’ son Johari Fuad Stephens, and the pilot Gandhi J. Nathan.
Tan Sri Harris Salleh, who succeeded Stephens as chief minister, filed a judicial review for the report to be made public in 2022, saying he had endured years of insinuations linking him with the crash.
Malaysia’s report was released yesterday on the Transport Ministry website following declassification on April 6.
The declassified report states there was no evidence of sabotage, but there had been “unusual” technical difficulties and miscalculations on the aircraft’s centre of gravity, besides noting sloppy operating procedures by Sabah Air.
The Australian documents, meanwhile, include the findings of a team of experts from the Australian Transport Department and aircraft manufacturer GAF Nomad, titled “G. Bennett – Sabah Air Nomad – Report by Government Aircraft Factories (GAF)”.
Stephens’ family also expressed their gratitude to Harris for pursuing the declassification of the report in the courts, and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for finally releasing it. – The Vibes, April 13, 2023
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