KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Cabinet minister Datuk Conrad Mojuntin, who oversaw Sabah's golden age of sports in the early 1980s, passed away from a stroke on Wednesday (Nov 17). He was 73.

       According to his eldest son, Petrus, his father was admitted to a private hospital on Sunday before passing away at 11.30am.

       "He had been suffering from a heart condition for some time," he said, adding that the family was currently preparing funeral arrangements for which a date would be announced later.

       Mojuntin stepped into politics in 1976 after his famous politician brother Peter Mojuntin died in a tragic air crash that killed six Berjaya government ministers on June 6, 1976, known as the Double Six tragedy.

       As youth and sports minister in the Berjaya government Cabinet between 1982-85, Mojuntin was credited for pushing Sabah's sports development to new heights that saw the state become a power house in national and international sports.

       "He was very passionate about sports and sports development in Sabah and he himself was an active participant," said Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, who was then a permanent secretary of the state youth ministry.

       "I joined him for the KL Marathon run. It was during his time that the Ministry managed to secure the services of sports management experts from the US to assist in Sabah’s sports development," said Masidi, who is now Local Government and Housing Minister.

       Former Sabah Sports director Datuk Balwant Singh remembers Mojuntin as a hands-on minister who would get involved in sports and join the sportsmen in marathons and boxing.

       "He was really dedicated and got personally involved," said Balwant.

       Many sports officials from that era remembers Mojuntin as having brought the full marathon and highlighted barefooted Sabahan runners.

       He was credited for engaging US Sports Academy coaches while elevating bodybuilding to a level that not only saw Justin Sompong become Asia's Bodybuilding Champion in 1985 but Sabah becoming host to the prestigious Mr Olympia.

       He gave all sports associations a fair share but never minced words and gave a good drubbing each time they did not produce.

       Some recalled that when Sabah FA was gripped by a legal crisis, Mojuntin persuaded Head of State Tun Mohd Adnan Robert to take over the helm and kickstarted Sabah's rise in national football.

       Mojuntin, who remained on the sidelines of politics after the Berjaya government fell in 1985, made a comeback attempt in the 2004 general elections on a DAP ticket but failed to win the Moyog state and Penampang parliament seats.

       Friends said that Mojuntin spent most of his time in religious activities after his failed political foray but was in the public spotlight again when he was implicated in a shooting incident involving the death of a 26-year-old in Oct 2006.

       However, the coroner's court ruled that the shooting was in self-defence at that time.