The claim of the accent probably stemmed from an inebriated bodyguard of the minister in question, speaking " manglish
A friend of mine sent me this piece of info from somewhere. It sounds similar to a case of drunken air rage. But why the need to force the pilots to fly to SIN, unless the hijacker already had a plan in mind.
Want another side to the story? Dunno if true or not. Got it from an retired government official who was often flying in and out of KL on government business. The plane went down not because of a traditional hijacking but a case of air rage. The hijacker was actually the bodyguard of the Minister of Agriculture. He got into a very serious argument with the captain of the flight who refused to take off unless the bodyguard handed in his pistol he carried to the captain as it was against the rules for the bodyguard to carry the pistol while on board the plane. The bodyguard refused and a serious argument ensured ending nearly into a fight. Eventually the bodyguard was forced to give up his gun to the safe keeping of the captain by ground officials and the plane took off. During the flight the bodyguard got up from the seat and made his way to the cockpit to recover his gun and honor. What exactly happened next is not really known. But the blame was put on the Japanese Red Army to cover for the real reason which would be very embarrassing for the government.
Just what an old gentleman told me many years ago.