KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Khalid Mohd Yunus and Sitham Nadarajah sigh a big relief, every time the memory of the Malaysia Airlines crash in Tanjung Kupang, Johor flashes by.
Politician Khalid and MAS engineer Sitham ‘miraculously’ missed that fateful MH653 flight at the Penang International Airport, en route to the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah international airport in Subang, on Dec 4, 1977.
Their curses for the missed flight turned to relief hours later that day, when news broke of the horrific crash into a mangrove swamp that took the lives of 93 passengers and nine crew.
The Boeing 737 jetliner’s Captain G.K. Ganjoor and co-pilot First Officer Kamarulzaman Jalil were reportedly shot by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) hijackers, as the flight was diverted to Singapore's Paya Lebar Airport.
Serving as press liaison officer, Khalid recalled the tragedy vividly, as he was scheduled to accompany Agriculture Minister Ali Ahmad, his aide-de-camp, political secretary and personal secretary to visit Perlis and Kedah a few days earlier.
“Our flight tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Penang and return were already booked.
“Just a day before departure, I was coaxed by Negri Sembilan mentri besar Mansor Othman’s Umno officials to campaign for the Jempol by-election after its assemblyman Yasin Othman earlier died while performing his haj in Mecca.
“I informed Ali and he consented for me to be excused for the trip.
“It was a sheer twist of fate and fortune for me. I lost my boss and colleagues, while I survived,” said Khalid, who turned 82 on March 26.
Khalid initially joined Utusan Malaysia as a reporter in 1962 and moved to Bernama in 1968 and then the information ministry two years later, under Ghazali Jawi.
“My editor, Melan Abdullah was reluctant to release me from Utusan but I was adamant.
“When Ghazali (former Perak mentri besar Tajol Rosli’s father) became Perak Menteri Besar in 1974, I became his press liaison officer.
“A year later I joined Ali, holding the similar post,” said Khalid.
After Ali perished in the MAS crash, Ghafar Baba became agriculture minister and Khalid soon became his press secretary.
“Suddenly, prime minister Abdul Razak Hussain died and Hussein Onn replaced him.
“Umno vice-president Ghafar resigned abruptly in 1976 after he was side-stepped to be made deputy prime minister.
“Instead, Dr Mahathir Mohamad got selected,” said Khalid, from Kampung Lonek, Batu Kikir.
Shariff Ahmad replaced Ghafar as agriculture minister and Khalid served as his political secretary.
“In 1982, I won the Jempol state-seat unopposed and was appointed Negri Sembilan executive councillor for agriculture.
“As Jempol Umno division chief, I won the newly-established Parliament seat there in 1986 (and retained the seat until 2004), when Jempol’s state seat was renamed Batu Kikir.
Khalid went on to serve four terms as a deputy minister (for land and regional development; education; information; and entrepreneur development), Malaysian Athletics president for 14 years and an Olympic Council of Malaysia vice-president.
In 2007, he was part of the Merdeka De' Everest expedition to scale the 8,848m Mount Everest.
Sitham, who was serving as MAS line maintenance manager, thanked his mother N. Pathmavathy for being alive.
“Along with my brother Selvarajah and father S. Nadarajah, I was visiting my ailing mother recovering after an operation at a Penang hospital.
“She fervently encouraged me to defer my departure that night (Dec 4) to a later flight, so that I spent more time with her.
“Although there was no confirmed (passenger) seat for the later flight, I managed to secure a (cockpit) jump seat as a senior staff,” said Sitham, who turned 79 on June 15.
What a fright Sitham had landing in Subang around 11pm when his pilot informed him of the hijacked earlier flight.
“I immediately rushed to the airport’s engineering operations room and learnt of the crash.
“I was stunned! I thanked the Almighty and my mother for sparing me.
“I immediately telephoned my brother to inform my parents of my safety,” said Sitham, who retired as MAS engineering deputy director after joining the airline as a pioneer in 1971.
He added that MAS engineering director Resham Singh directed Sitham to remain in Subang to supervise operations as an emergency team headed for Senai airport, Johor.
Sitham missed Ganjoor dearly as they knew each other since the Malaysia-Singapore Airlines days, before MAS was formed.
“I used to be based in Kota Kinabalu and frequently met Ganjoor who flew in regularly.
“He was fond of chewing beetle nuts and loved the local food there.
“We shared cherished moments working together, and I dearly miss him,” said Sitham.
