KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 ― Opposition lawmakers today demanded Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri be referred to Parliament's powerful Committee of Privileges, claiming the deputy defence minister had misled the House with his recent remarks on the missing Flight MH370.

Abdul Rahim told the Dewan Rakyat last week that the Malaysia Airlines jetliner carrying 239 people and missing since March 8 could have been ordered to divert from its Beijing-bound flight route.

“We don't want a deputy minister who says one thing inside and another outside the Dewan,” Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng said.

The DAP legislator acknowledged that Rahim had admitted his viewpoint was false through a written statement, but said the deputy minister had not formally applied to amend Parliament's records as required under Order 36(12) of the Standing Order.

Order 36(12) provides for any member who imputes statements that mislead the House is deemed to be in contempt of the House and the member may be referred to the Committee of Privileges for the offence.

“What he told us last week is still recorded in the Hansard.  Which is accurate?” asked Lim.

Batu PKR MP Tian Chua backed Lim’s motion, saying that it would be “dangerous” to leave the inaccurate remark unpunished.

On March 26, Rahim had said the military initially assumed that a Malaysian jet detected on its radar on March 8 was ordered to turn back by air traffic controllers.

Questions had been raised over the military’s failure to immediately report the detection of the missing MH370, but Abdul Rahim repeated the Malaysian government’s explanation that the aircraft was considered non-hostile.

Abdul Rahim admitted the next day that his explanation was only conjecture.

“In relation to my statement in the debate on the royal address in Parliament last night (March 26, 2014), which said the MH370 flight may have turned back after receiving orders from the control centre, I wish to explain that it was only my andaian (assumption) and also possibilities that could have occurred.

“After carrying out checks, I wish to stress that my assumption was not accurate,” Rahim said in a two-paragraph statement issued by the Defence Ministry, the next day.

Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee, however, told Lim and Chua that he would have to deliberate on the complaint before making a decision.