An airplane crash on 6 June 1976 killed Stephens along with four other state cabinet ministers . On 14 June 1976 , the state government of Sabah led by the new chief minister Harris Salleh signed an agreement with Petronas , the federal government-owned oil and gas company , granting it the right to extract and earn revenue from petroleum found in the territorial waters of Sabah in exchange for 5 % in annual revenue as royalties based on the 1974 Petroleum Development Act . The state government of Sabah ceded Labuan to the Malaysian federal government , and Labuan became a federal territory on 16 April 1984 . In 2000 , the state capital Kota Kinabalu was granted city status , making it the 6th city in Malaysia and the first city in the state . Prior to a territorial dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia since 1969 over two islands of Ligitan and Sipadan in the Celebes Sea , the International Court of Justice ( ICJ ) made a final decision to award both islands to Malaysia in 2002 based on their " effective occupation "
airplane crash
1976 Sabah Air GAF Nomad crash
Sabah