KOTA KINABALU, June 6 — The Sabah government would support any legal action taken by the families of those killed in “Double Six” crash that killed about half the state Cabinet in 1976, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan.
He said the government understood their plight of waiting decades for an answer to the air crash that is said to have changed the state’s trajectory.
“It is their right of the families to do so. We sympathise with them.
“If they decide to take legal action, the state government will support them,” said Kitingan when speaking to reporters after attending the 48th commemorative ceremony at the Double Six monument today.
He was asked to comment on the families’ recent statement that they were looking at taking legal action against the federal government for its role in the crash.
Kitingan conceded that although the crash investigation reports from Malaysia and Australia were declassified and published last year, these did not allay suspicions and conspiracy theories surrounding the incident and the decision to classify the documents.
“We will follow up with the federal government on this matter to help alleviate the suffering caused by the crash for the families, allowing them to truly move on and put an end to this chapter,” he said.
The victims’ families released a statement two days ago saying that they were looking to sue the government for compensation, to make up and reduce the pain they have endured over the past 50 years when the investigation report was classified and not made public.
The declassification of the Malaysian Investigation Report on April 12, 2023, provided some insight into the circumstances of the crash that killed 11 people including the pilot, but the reasons for the long delay in releasing the report remains unclear.
Official investigation into the Double Six air crash reached the same findings as Malaysia’s probe that was that the GAF Nomad aircraft was being operated illegally and that the pilot had allowed for the aircraft to be overloaded in the aft, or rear, section.
Malaysia, in its report, had stated that there were no elements of sabotage or engine failure, while pathological tests on the pilot Captain Gandhi J. Nathan proved that he was reasonably fit at the time and not suffering from the effects of alcohol or drugs.
Datuk Donald Peter Mojuntin, whose father Datuk Peter Mojuntin was local government and housing minister during the crash, said that the delay in publishing the crash investigation report has exacerbated the trauma experienced by the families, preventing them from moving forward and ending the impact of this event on them.
“In the end, we still don’t know why the crash happened and what was so important that they had to classify it.
“We have written to the Ministry of Transport letters, first in January and then in April, but have not received any reply, not even an acknowledgement that they received the letter,” he said when met today.
