13,215 days ago

Imagine a state government possessing the half billion Ringgit to develop the state or to give it to its people. Now imagine the same state government in possession of four times that amount. So, instead of only having the monetary resources to provide aid to a quarter of the state’s population, the state government can now do the same to everybody. Total coverage. Let’s not even get to the full 100% i.e. the ten billion Ringgit.

Hakim Joe

What is the difference between 5% and 20%? Well, anyone who has half a brain and who had not been asleep during math class in school will tell you that the answer is 15%, as in 20% minus 5%.

Let us convert this to figures and let us hypothesize the figure as ten billion Ringgit. 5% of ten billion is half a billion and 20% is exactly four times that number, i.e., two billion Ringgit. Witness how vast this difference is now.

Imagine a state government possessing the half billion Ringgit to develop the state or to give it to its people. Now imagine the same state government in possession of four times that amount. So, instead of only having the monetary resources to provide aid to a quarter of the state’s population, the state government can now do the same to everybody. Total coverage. Let’s not even get to the full 100% i.e. the ten billion Ringgit.

Now assume that someone powerful within that same state, a tribal leader of sorts, has the influence and capacity to take that state out of the federation. This would mean an income shortfall ranging between 80% and 95% of ten billion Ringgit. Well, money isn’t everything but an action as such could propel other states into mimicking parallel actions and this is unquestionably something that must be prevented at all cost, collateral damage be damned.

On another note, where were you 13,215 days ago?

On June 6, 1976, an Australian manufactured GAF-Nomad N.22B-type twin turboprop engine passenger plane operated by Sabah Air with the tail number 9M-ATZ took off from Labuan Airport (LBU) on its 113-km route to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (BKI) with ten passengers onboard. A routine short flight except for two things. One, almost the entire Sabah state government’s top leadership were on the plane and two, the plane stalled and crashed into the sea approximately 2-km from its destination airport killing the pilot and its ten VIP passengers.

The reign of Tun Fuad Stephens (Donald Aloysius Marmaduke Stephens) as Sabah’s fifth Chief Minister abruptly ended a mere seven weeks from the day he took office for a second term. The lists of fatalities include Sabah State Ministers Datuk Salleh Sulong, Datuk Peter Mojuntin & Chong Thien Vun; Darius Binion (assistant State Minister), Datuk Wahid Peter Andau (Secretary of State for the Ministry of Finance of Sabah), Dr. Syed Hussein Wafa (Sabah’s Director in the state’s Economic Planning Unit), Isak Atan (Private Secretary to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah), Corporal Said Mohammad (Tun Fuad’s bodyguard), Johari Stephens (Tun Fuad’s eldest son) and Captain Gandhi Nathan (pilot).

Mechanical problems? Perhaps so but then again the original investigation reports should have been immediately published and the coroner should have declared the “accident” as a misadventure. However, this report was promptly classified by the Federal Government (it still remains classified up to this day) and the coroner, En. Ansari Abdullah, returned an open verdict.

Aviation Safety Network (ASN) reported that the aircraft “stalled and crashed on approach.” However, in its narrative, ASN stated that “This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.” What the ASN report did not say was that ground witnesses saw the plane “drop like a stone”. What the experts also failed to inform you is that fixed-wing aircraft do not drop vertically but glide to its impact point unless the wings dropped off and the wings on a fixed wing aircraft do not just drop off by themselves when the engines purportedly stalled.

Non-mechanical problems? There is no way of knowing the truth until the original investigation report is declassified but a few officials have put forth the theory that the aircraft was overloaded.

Overloaded? Let’s just put it this way. The N.22B variant is rated for up to 1 or 2 pilots with a maximum of 12 passengers and unless the pilot and its 10 passengers gorged themselves silly during lunch, there is no way the plane could have exceeded its weight limitations.

Problematic aircraft? Yes, the GAF-Nomad N.22B variant aircraft can be considered so. Since its production, the Nomad has been involved in a total of 32 total hull-loss accidents, which have resulted in 76 fatalities including its chief test pilot and the assistant head designer during the design and testing stage.

Conspiracy? One, the fact that Tun Fuad wanted a 20 percent oil royalty for the state, and two, the open secret that Tun Fuad may bring Sabah out of the Federation following Singapore’s footsteps does add spice to the concoction. Three, it is additionally not a secret that Tun Fuad wanted to become the Malaysian Prime Minister some time in his political future.

Three strikes and you are out. Permanently out with a bang.

Did I say “bang”? Well, ground witnesses remembered hearing two distinct explosions. They are the ones who said “bang”… not me.

Additionally, why was Tun Fuad’s aircraft requested to circle the airfield awaiting an imaginary RMAF C-130 Hercules to take off? (Airport logs did not show the existence of any RMAF planes on the tarmac at the time of the accident, let alone a humungous C-130).

Shouldn’t the Chief Minister’s flight take preference over everybody, especially in Sabah and especially when it is the Chief Minister’s aircraft with the Chief Minister in it? Were there really two explosions (one in midair and the other when the aircraft crashed) as indicated by witnesses of the crash? How is Lee Kang Yu, a trusted aid and trustee to Harris Salleh who had fled to Hong Kong prior to his death, involved in the crash? Why did a senior communication officer (T.K. Wong) living near the crash site and who was the first to arrive at the crash site tell everybody that the police arrived almost immediately after him and instantaneously condoned off the entire crash site instead of organizing search and rescue teams?

Perhaps an unfortunate (but fatal) coincidence? Nonetheless and regardless of what has actually transpired, the direction of Sabah’s fortunes has been altered forever. From a sovereign state albeit under British rule (after the sushi-eaters have surrendered) to a BN “fixed deposit” does not augur well for its inhabitants. Sabah, with its bountiful natural resources, should have been an extremely rich independent country with limitless opportunities. Why settle for a pittance 5 percent when one can have the entire cake (and eat it too)? Why must the people of Sabah allow Kuala Lumpur to select its Head of State instead of its inhabitants choosing on its own? Why allow foreigners to become citizens of the state without any decision making of its own?

Land Below The Wind? More like “Land Below Putrajaya’s Feet”. But then again, that is solely my opinion and does not reflect any other individual’s view or attitude.

Coming back to the “so-called” conspiracy theory. Who was it that ill convinced Tun Fuad to join the Federation (to form Malaysia) in the first place? This individual is none other than Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew. At the time when a decision was required, Tun Fuad was opposed to Sabah uniting with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia, and in a place where tribal inclinations were strong Tun Fuad could have easily convinced the people of Sabah to reject the Federation. A lot of people might say that Sabah can never stand on its own two feet with the Philippines and Indonesian authorities aggressively laying claims on Sabah but that remains an unproven conjecture that can never be established now.

In what is now known as the Double Six Tragedy, Sabah’s top leadership was wiped off the face of the earth in one fell stroke. Suddenly the deafening silence can be heard everywhere as there is now no questioning the 5% allocated share of the oil royalties and the question of whether Sabah should opt out from the Federation is permanently deferred as Deputy Chief Minister Harris Salleh was sworn in as the sixth Chief Minister of Sabah on the afternoon following the accident. Talk about efficiency.

The fact that Harris Salleh, along with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Datuk Rahman Yaakub (Chief Minister of Sarawak) and a member of the Pahang Royalty were present with Tun Fuad in Labuan for the aborted signing ceremony (the ceremony was deferred to be held in Kota Kinabalu later in the day), is not lost on the people screaming conspiracy. The fact that these three lucky people were suddenly called to inspect some cattle farm there augments the conspiracy theory and the fact that Harris Salleh immediately agreed to the 5% oil royalty, and not the 20% as required by Tun Fuad, spells something sinister in the background. The reality that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Datuk Rahman Yaakub were already strapped into their seats and later urgently requested to disembark from the aircraft by Harris Salleh should be investigated, if not for the break in protocol. One does not insist its superiors to change the official itinerary unless it is of vital importance and visiting some cows in Banggi Kudat cannot be counted as such.

Matter of note: The Oil Agreement was signed between Harris Salleh and Petronas 8 days later on June 14, 1976 and the decision was arrived at without the official consent of the remaining Sabah State Legislative Council. Additionally, with an Open Verdict from the coroner, the Magistrate concerned requested a full reinvestigation into the crash. However no official reinvestigation was ever performed or even initiated but the pertinent issue is why the Magistrate concerned did not follow through on his decision but instead permit the court’s decision to pass.

When Tun Fuad was the Chief Minister of Sabah, a working relationship was agreed upon by the Sabah coalition parties to rotate the post of CM between its partners. After Tun Fuad died in the accident, the rotational system came to a screeching halt. Instead of a one-year tenure for everybody, Harris Salleh governed Sabah from the exact day Tun Fuad died until his eventual retirement on April 22, 1985.

It is not a question of why the rotational system was abruptly terminated but the fact that it was canceled immediately after Tun Fuad’s demise. Yes, rotating the CM seat is not exactly a brilliant idea but one does not change what that has been agreed upon immediately after an accident regardless of whether it is good or bad for the state.

Tun Fuad is no political lightweight. With Sabah as his trump card, he could have easily asked for and obtained the post of the deputy premiership from Tunku (during his first tenure as the CM of Sabah) or from Tun Hussein Onn (during his second term). In 1963, right after Sabah joined the Federation, Tun Fuad had no intentions of being anything other than the first CM of Sabah. However, his friendship with Lee Kuan Yew soon perked his political ambitions and there were rumors that Lee will choose him as the Deputy PM should he become the Malaysian PM after Tunku and Tun Fuad becoming the Malaysian PM after Lee retires. Some even said that this was the basis of how Lee managed to convince Tun Fuad to bring Sabah into the Federation, a secret agreement thrashed out between Tunku, Lee Kuan Yew and Tun Fuad.

History will tell us that this was not to be as Tunku was himself ousted by Tun Razak. Lee was now in limbo and so was Tun Fuad but Sabah was by now already in the Federation. To make matters worse, Singapore was chased out of Malaysia and it was during this time that Tun Fuad’s mentor and best friend Datuk OKK Sedomon Gunsanad, who initially opposed Sabah’s entry into the Federation, died and it was during this same period of time that Tun Fuad harbored intentions of taking Sabah out of Malaysia since “Sabah joined Malaysia because of Singapore and now that the island was out of the Federation, there was no longer any reason for the Borneo state to continue to be in the Federation.”

In this same period of time, there emerged another politician on the fast track and it is none other than Mahathir Mohamad. With the Tunku-Lee-Stephens private accord out of the picture and the discovery of petroleum reserves in East Malaysia, Sabah soon became a cash cow for the nation and any intentions or plans by anyone to make Sabah a self-governed nation must be promptly nipped in the bud.

Tun Fuad has suddenly become a very dangerous adversary and when he became the fifth CM of Sabah for a second term, Kuala Lumpur soon found his position an extreme risk to the very existence of Malaysia, let alone trying to make a few more bucks on it.

Let’s look at Sabah now. In 1970, Sabah was the second richest state. In 2010, it is the poorest state, even with its massive oil reserves, huge palm oil plantations and colossal timber exports. GDP growth is a mere 2.4%, even lower than Kelantan under PAS rule.

When Datuk Yong Teck Lee (SAPP President) made a comment whereby he reiterated that the Double Six Tragedy must be reopened for reinvestigation following Tengku Razaleigh’s revelation that he was seated and strapped into his seat behind Tun Fuad before being invited by Harris Salleh to disembark from the plane to inspect a cattle farm, Datuk Yong was hit by a RM50 million defamation lawsuit from the 81-year old Harris Salleh. When the courts ruled in favor of Harris, this sent a very loud message to everybody in Malaysia that the Double Six Tragedy is off limits.

Question: Why classify the findings of an air crash and why persecute those who wish to know the truth? Why was the official signing ceremony aborted in Labuan (to be held a few hours later in KK) when everybody concerned was already present? What actually transpired in the meeting in Labuan?

So many questions but no answers forthcoming. Malaysians will never know the answers unless Pakatan takes over in Putrajaya. Sabahans, cast your votes wisely.