'Double Six' tragedy report declassification shows govt's commitment to transparency, says Madius

KOTA KINABALU: The announcement to declassify the report on Sabah’s Double Six tragedy shows the government’s commitment to transparent, fair and just governance, says Datuk Seri Madius Tangau.

The Tuaran MP said that after almost 50 years, the families of the deceased can finally have closure while the people of Sabah would find out what exactly happened.

He said people have been asking for so long what actually led to the tragedy involving the Nomad Aircraft which killed 11 people including the then chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens and state ministers on June 6, 1976.

“There were no answers but now, finally, the families and all Sabahans can have closure,” he said when contacted Wednesday (April 5).

Madius thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for promoting transparency with this announcement and for allowing justice to be done.

He said on March 8 when the High Court in Kota Kinabalu ordered the Malaysian government to declassify the federal investigation report on the June 6, 1976 plane crash following a lawsuit filed by former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Harris Mohd Salleh, people were happy.

Earlier on March 14, it was reported that the Federal Government had appealed against the decision by the High Court here to order the declassification of the investigation report on the “Double Six” plane crash.

Acting for the Chief Secretary, Transport Minister and the Malaysian government, the Attorney General’s Chambers filed the appeal on March 10.

The appellants were seeking to overturn the ruling by High Court judge Justice Christopher Chin Soo Yin on March 8 at the Court of Appeal.

Justice Chin had delivered a mandamus order during the ruling of a judicial review filed by Harris, who succeeded Fuad as chief minister after his death, to declassify the report.

This was to make public the investigation report by Malaysian authorities into the crash of an Australian-made Nomad aircraft with the registration of 9M-ATZ that crashed in Kota Kinabalu.

In his ruling, Justice Chin also ordered the Chief Secretary, Transport Minister as well as the Malaysian government to act necessarily to declassify the report in three months’ time or by June 8 this year.

Former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee cannot wait to read the report, as he has been calling for the release of the Double Six air crash report for years and it was among his motions submitted at Sabah state assembly sittings.

“Obviously, the federal government’s decision to publish the report fulfils one of my key objectives,” he said.

“I eagerly await to read the report. Not only what is in the report but also what might not be in it,” he said.