SEPANG, March 12 — Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein brushed off criticisms of Malaysia’s leadership in searching for missing flight MH370, claiming that the perception of “confusion” was contrived.

Hishammuddin maintained that communication and information coming from authorities over ongoing efforts to locate the plane that has now been missing for five days was clear and consistent from the start.

“Far from it. There is only confusion if you want it to see it as confusion,” he said during a joint press conference to provide updates on the search efforts today.

The minister was responding to a question on the stinging disapproval aimed at Malaysia’s lead in the mysterious disappearance of the plane and its subsequent search.

Five days in, the massive search and rescue operation now involves 12 nations, 42 vessels and 39 aircraft over 12,425 square nautical miles on both sides of peninsula Malaysia.

Malaysia’s handling of the missing aircraft and the 239 passengers and crew members onboard is now being criticised, after officials gave a number of contradicting statements on the search effort and investigations.

Today, Hishammuddin explained that the magnitude of the undertaking was something Malaysia had never experienced before.

“This is unprecedented, what we’re going through, coordinating so many countries together is not something that is easy, we’re looking at so many vessels and aircraft, so many countries to coordinate and a vast area for us to search, and as time passes, I fear that the search and rescue becomes just a search, (but) we will never give up hope.

“This we owe to the families,” he said.

Hishammuddin, who is also the defence minister, said the authorities have been transparent throughout the crisis and that they have “nothing to hide”.

He explained that pace of information flow was also dictated by the need to ensure that the details presented were consistent.

A now-denied report that MH370 was definitively tracked to the Straits of Malacca had epitomised the conflicting information in the mystery of MH370 that has literally vanished without a trace.

The report had led Vietnam to temporarily suspend some of its search efforts as it sought clarification from Malaysia.

The lack of clear leadership over the multinational effort was also pointed out by rescue experts, leading some to label local authorities as “incompetent” in organising the search.