Remembering Double Six (Part 2)

I am supposed to include with this posting a few pictures I took at this morning's ceremony to commemorate the Double Six tragedy which took place 32 years ago at this spot in Sembulan, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

However,due to some technical difficulties and after several hours o fruitless attempt to upload the photos, I give up. I only managed to upload the above photo which was taken immediately after the ceremony. Notice the wreaths left behind by the bereaved families and relatives paying respects.I will try again to upload the other photos under Part 3 later.

The ceremony was organised by the Kota Kinabalu City Hall with the co-operation of the Sutera Harbour Resort group which maintains the vicinity that includes a food court, recreational park and jogging track. The vicinity itself is surrounded by high-end apartments also built by the Sutera group.

The State Government was represented by the Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Edward Khoo who is the minister-in-charge of the City Hall. Also present was the City Mayor, Datuk Illyas Ibrahim and representatives from Sutera.

The bereaved families was led by , befittingly, Toh Puan Hajjah Rahimah Stephens, widow of the late Tun Haji Mohd Fuad Stephens, the then Chief Minister of Sabah who lost his life along with ten others in the June 6, 1976 plane crash. Incidentally, Khoo's father was the late Datuk Khoo Saik Chiew who was a Minister in Stephens' Cabinet when the latter first became Chief Minister in the early 1960s.

Three other Ministers were also killed in what became known as the Double Six tragedy. However, only the widow of one of them was present this morning. She was Datin Nancy, widow of the late Datuk Peter Mojuntin, Minister of Local Government and Housing. Also present was Peter's son, Donald Mojuntin who was only 11 years old when his father died. Donald is now himself an Assistant Minister in the Sabah Government, having won the State Legislative Assembly seat for Moyog (his father's former constituency) in the recent general election. Prior to the election, he was Member of Parliament for Penampang, his hometown and his late father's political bastion in the 1960s-70s.

The late Datuk Salleh Sulong, Minister of Finance at the time of the tragedy, was represented by his daughter, Juanita. She was less than 7 years old when her father was killed. Having studied and spent most of her adult life in Britain, she is back in Sabah for good with her Iranian husband. Both are in business and intend to apply what they learnt overseas here.

The late Datuk Chong Thain Vun, Minister of Commuication and Works, was represented by a female relative. It is believed that his family now live in Australia. Before he entere politics in the early 1970s, Chong was one of the most senior and popular lawyers in Kota Kinabalu.

An Assistant Minister, Datuk Darius Binion, was also killed in the crash. He was represented this morning by his widow Datin Jikilin.

As I said I will report more late together with the pictures.