Death by plane crash scares me. I travel a lot, and when you hit turbulence, and post 9/11, that’s in the back of my mind a bit.
– Robert Englund, American actor, singer and director
On the night of December 4, 1977 Malaysian Airlines System Flight MH653 crashed into a mangrove forest in Tanjung Kupang in Johor killing all 93 passengers and seven crew members.
Among them were a dear family friend Brian Pestana and his wife, Agriculture Minister Datuk Ali Ahmad, Public Works Department head Datuk Mahfuz Khalid, and Cuban ambassador Mario Garcia Inchaustegui and his wife Gladys.
The crash was described as one of Malaysia’s most tragic disasters which till today remains unsolved.
Even as the plane nose-dived into the swamp and disintegrated into thousands of metal parts and human body parts, there were all kinds of theories as to what happened.
One story in the newspapers suggested that the armed bodyguard of a VIP had forced his way into the cockpit and shot the pilot. Another story implicated a VIP himself.
It was especially heart-breaking for the Penang-based Pestana family because Brian and his wife Kuok Siew Liew were on their way to open a new branch of his accounting firm.
The Pestanas and my family were notable sportsmen going back to pre-war days. Scottish-Chinese Eurasians Hector and Johnny Ritchie, were the first brothers to captain opposing sides in the historic All Blues rugby final between Singapore and Perak in 1938.
Hector skippered Perak while my father, Singapore, which won the match by a penalty in a match at the Selangor Club rugby field which is now the Kuala Lumpur Central Padang.
Brian’s father Maurice, 37, was about my father’s age when he captained Penang in 1951 and after Malaya’s Independence in 1957 led the country’s first XV for several years.
Brian started playing rugby soon after the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and later captained the Malaysian side. Two other brothers Ronald and Dennis also played for Malaysia while Hugh, who migrated to Australia with his parents, played against the All Blacks and Springboks at age of 22.
In 1975 I played with Brian who was an iconic stand-off for the top local club Cobra (Combined Old Boys Rugby Association). We first played in Cobra’s famous victory against the invincible Singapore-based Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment in the inaugural Cobra 10s tournament at UKM in Kuala Lumpur.
On November 3, 1975 we played in Selangor’s First XV which beat Pahang 6-4 in the Malaya Cup final and in our last match together in late 1976 when Selangor beat Malaysian Police 3-0 at the MRU cup final.
Looking back at the tragic December 4 crash, I am sure that if Brian was aware of what was going to take place at the cockpit, I am sure he would have intervened and possibly averted a tragedy!
Twenty years later I was personally involved in similar incident when a Chinese refugee tried to force his way into the cockpit on a flight from Cape Town to Kuala Lumpur.
It was a normal flight when he had supper and we prepared to have our nap. Just after midnight when the lights had been dimmed, I noticed a man in a thick jacket pacing up and down the aisle of the aircraft as if he was irritated over some issue.
Minutes later I saw him entering the business class section. And then I heard loud voices as if some people were arguing.
Afraid that something untoward was going to happen, I quickly left my seat while everyone were asleep and entered the business class to see what was happening.
Apparently, the man wanted to enter the cockpit to speak to the captain but the chief steward refused to allow him to do so and the man became more irritated.
After suggesting to one of the stewards that we had to act before the man ran amok, I approached the angry passenger and put my arm around his shoulder as if to comfort him. Then with the help of the stewards we grappled him to the ground.
Shouting at the top of his voice, the stewards strapped him down to a seat and when the man realised he was not going anywhere, he calmed down.
Minutes later I returned to the economy class where my five-year-old daughter and wife and other passengers were peacefully sleeping.
A little later the chief steward and one of his assistants came up to me with a bottle of red wine and a short handwritten note from the captain thanking me for assisting in restraining the man.
As I strapped in none of the passengers, not even my wife, appeared to have been alarmed by the commotion. As we landed at the airport safe and sound, it was like nothing had happened.
Later the passenger was taken away by the immigration authorities and eventually deported to China.
All in a day’s work for the brave stewards and a journalist, with his bottle of grog, happy that nothing more came of what could have been a dangerously precarious incident.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
