Remembering Double Six (Part 5)

The front page of the Daily Express dated Monday, June 7, 1976. The headline is self-explanatory. Notice the composite photograph showing the late Chief Minister, Tun Fuad Stephens and some of those who died taking part in a walkathon in Kota Kinabalu in the morning of June 6, 1976 - the day they were killed. They left for Labuan after the walkathon in conjunction with the visit of then Petronas chairman Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah there. The accident took place in the late afternoon as the aircraft was about to land in Kota Kinabalu from Labuan. Stephens and Razaleigh (who travelled in a different plane with Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh) were supposed to have signed the agreement giving Petronas control of Sabah's oil and gas reserves, with the State getting only 5% of sales proceeds, in Kota Kinabalu the next day. Notice also the side bar saying (then Malaysian Prime Minister) Hussein Onn ordering a full scale probe on the crash. (Note: The Daily Express was the unofficial mouthpiece of the Berjaya party, with the paper's owner Datuk Yeh Pao Tzu throwing his weight behind the new party since its formation on July 15, 1975.)

The sight that broke many hearts while others could not bear to see, especially family members of the deceased - the wreckage of the Nomad aircraft which crashed at Sembulan, missing the nearest houses built on stilts in shallow sea water by merely meters. This was what the lower half of the front page of June 7, 1976's Daily Express looks like. Notice story which says Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh having been sworn-in as Sabah's 6th Chief Minister in the evening of June 6, 1976, hours after the crash which wiped out practically half of the State Cabinet. Immediately after the ceremony at Istana, Harris chaired an emergency meeting of the ruling Berjaya party's supreme council during which he was made acting President replacing the late Tun Fuad. Appointed acting Secretary-General was Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, lawyer Joseph Pairin Kitingan who, ironically , would lead a new party, PBS, to topple Harris' Berjaya 9 years later.

This was how the front page of Kinabalu Sabah Times looked like on June 7, 1976, the day after the crash. The paper was the rival of Daily Express, not only in the business sense but also politically as it was the unofficial mouthpiece of the Usno-dominated Sabah Alliance, the party that Berjaya was formed to topple from power. Notice story which says "USNO/Alliance extend their condolences". USNO secretary-general Datu Haji Aliuddin Datu Harun, brother of former Chief Minister Tun Datu Mustapha spoke for the party while the Alliance (with SCA as the other partner) was represented by secretary-general Datuk Haji Dzulkifli Abdul Hamid. Notice also story which says a special investigation team was sent by the Federal Ministry of Communications in conjunction with the crash. The team left Kuala Lumpur for Kota Kinabalu on Sunday night itself, hours after the crash.

The lower half of the front page of the June 7, 1976 edition of the Usno-controlled Kinabalu Sabah Times. Notice in the main story it was stated that the late Tun Fuad was in Labuan a day earlier in conjunction with the visit of Federal Finance Minister cum Petronas chairman Tengku Razaleigh and Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Yaakub. It was also stated that Stephens' last official function was addressing the people at Layang-Layang on the island. Notice also the paragraph which says "He (Stephens) presented Tengku Razaleigh with a wooden table in the shape of Labuan island." I find this ironical because a few years later, Stephens' successor Harris Salleh would literally 'present' Labuan island to the Federal Government to be turned into a Federal Territory of Malaysia similar to the national capital, Kuala Lumpur. This became one of the main issues used by the Sabah United Party (PBS) in the 1985 State general election which saw the less-than-2-month-old PBS toppled Harris' Berjaya which ruled Sabah for 9 years.

(Please click on the images for larger view.)