I welcome the Cabinet decision to declassify the full report of the federal investigation on the 1976 plane crash that killed 11 people, including the then Sabah chief minister Fuad Stephens, for there is simply no reason or justification to keep the report under the Official Secrets Act for 47 years.
Three reasons have been attributed to the possible cause of the Nomad aircraft crash 47 years ago – aircraft overloading, pilot error or design flaw of the aircraft.
It is hoped that the declassification of the investigation report 47 years ago will bring closure to the crash which killed not only the then Sabah Chief Minister, but three Sabah state ministers at the time – Salleh Sulong, Peter Mojuntin and Chong Thien Vun.
If not for the Double-Six Nomad aircraft crash, the history of Sabah may have been very different.
Furthermore, I also call for the lifting of the ban on Bernard Sta Maria’s book on Peter Mojuntin, “The Golden Son of the Kadazan”.
In keeping with the principles of good governance and an administration which upholds transparency, openness and accountability, the next documents to be declassified are the reports of the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) and the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC).
The eight-week parliamentary meeting of the opening of the 15th Parliament would have ended with a big bang if the Reports of the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) and the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC) were declassified and tabled as White Papers in the last week of Parliament.
This is one of the five proposals I had made in January this year to make the meeting of the opening of the 15th Parliament the most memorable Parliamentary meeting in Malaysian history by initiating institutional reforms for Malaysia to achieve the twin goals of uniting the plural society in Malaysia, and to reset and restore Malaysia as a first-rate world-class nation.
It is regrettable that this suggestion was not taken up, but with the declassification of the 1976 Double-Six Nomad Crash investigation report, there is even less justification to keep the CEP and IRC reports under lock and key under the Official Secrets Act.
This declassification of the CEP and IRC Reports by the Anwar Unity Government is all the more urgent and necessary, as it was never the original intention to classify both the CEP and IRC reports under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and keep them away from public debate and discussion.
I had made numerous calls for the publication of the CEP and IRC Reports, the first time as far back as 13th October 2018, when I cited the CEP Chairman, Daim Zainuddin, as calling on the government to make the CEP recommendations available to the public.
I had always been mystified as to why the seventh Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had refused to ask the Cabinet and the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council to declassify the CEP and IRC reports in 2018 or 2019.
The very fact that Mahathir had kept his silence on this issue is evidence that he realised he did wrong and had betrayed the NGOs and personalities who had given their views on institutional reforms to the CEP and IRC.
The Anwar Unity Government should not compoud Mahathir’s mistake by continuing to keep the CEP and IRC reports under lock and key under the Official Secrets Act.