DOUBLE SIX TRAGEDY: Declassified report, answers or more questions ahead?

Rescue personnel surrounding the wreckage of the GAF Nomad aircraft that went down on June 6, 1976 at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

THE Double Six tragedy arguably spawned the biggest conspiracy theory in Sabah.

On June 6, 1976, a Nomad N-22B aircraft stalled and dropped from the sky above Kota Kinabalu.

The Nomad, flying 50 minutes from Labuan island, where the passengers attended the official opening of a RM100mil oil refinery, had reached Kota Kinabalu International Airport airspace.

The crash killed everyone on board, including Sabah Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Peter Mojuntin, Finance Minister Datuk Salleh Sulong, Communications and Works Minister Chong Thain Vun and assistant minister to Chief Minister Darius Binion.

Half of the newly-formed Berjaya Cabinet perished in the crash.

The dead also included Datuk Wahid Peter Andu (permanent secretary to the Finance Ministry), Syed Hussein Wafa (director of the Economic Planning Unit), Johari (Fuad’s son), Captain Gandhi Nathan (pilot), Corporal Said Mohammad (Fuad’s bodyguard) and Ishak Atan (Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s executive assistant).

In a chilling video recorded by razaleigh.com in 2010 on a talk titled "Oil For Who?", the then finance minister and Petronas chairman Razaleigh related to an audience in a community hall near Kota Kinabalu what happened minutes before the aircraft flew out of Labuan airport.

"I, myself, had boarded the plane. We were all strapped - wearing the seat belt - on the plane. I sat behind Tun Fuad Stephens, and on my right was Rahman (Sarawak Chief Minister Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’kub) and behind me was Tengku Bendahara Pahang," he said.

"Suddenly, (Tun) Harris Salleh (Sabah deputy Chief Minister) asked me to exit the plane as he said it was better we go to Pulau Banggi to see a cattle ranch.

"I then told Rahman Ya’kub and Tengku Bendahara Pahang that it was better if we went to Pulau Banggi.

"The ceremony to sign the agreement to give (Sabah’s) oil rights to Petronas was that night, so I told them we had plenty of time.

"So we flew with Harris in a similar plane," he said.

Harris was appointed Sabah Chief Minister after Fuad’s death.

Many Sabahans grew up learning about the Double Six conspiracy theory. Many believe it was sabotage. The coincidence was too great.

They believed the tragedy had something to do with Sabah’s oil rights. They point out that it happened when Fuad was negotiating the state's oil rights with the Federal government.

Eventually, Chief Minister Harris signed a lopsided agreement with the Federal government, leading to a 95% loss in oil revenue for Sabah.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Cabinet has declassified the final report on the "Double Six" crash in Sabah, which will be released next week.

What will the declassified report reveal?

Will it confirm the conspiracy theory that there was sabotage? Will it say mechanical defect? Pilot error?

The revelation will likely be an anti-climax. And will keep alive another conspiracy theory: the truth was suppressed.

Whatever the revelation, the Double Six crash will remain Sabah’s biggest conspiracy theory.