From tears of joy to tears of sorrow on a fine sunny day in June 1976... A beloved fair-minded charasmatic Eurasian leader, Tun Fuaad Donald Stephens and important key multi-racial members of his cabinet were killed when their plane mysteriously caught fire and exploded into a ball of flames after it crashed into a squatter area in Sabah. His party had recently won in the general elections, defeating and kicking out a corrupted government led by Tun Mustapha, a sicko notorious for his zeal to Islamise Sabahans and curtail the human rights of the non-Malays, particularly the Chinese.
My late dad was working in Sabah and had lots of incredulous stories of Mustapha's mind-boggling laughable idiotic actions as the Chief Minister.
Tun Fuaad, on the other hand, was a highly respected and loved leader and was a co-signatory to the agreement by Sabah with Sarawak to join the federation of Malaya to form Malaysia. He did not see eye to eye with Mustapha.
Also on board the ill-fated plane was a very prominent highly respected star lawyer who was a vocal out-spoken politician for Chinese rights, Chong Thien Vun.
Today a street in Sabah is named after him.
Blogger's Note: I would like to belately apologise for the foul-up with parts of the newspaper news that are seen here which appeared to be that of a second mysterious tragic air crash in Sabah.
