While Halimah has denied making this claim, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii accused the Perikatan Nasional MP of attempting to mislead the House through her remarks in the Dewan Rakyat last week.
In a Twitter post, Yii said the motion was submitted under Standing Order 36 (12) for making a misleading statement, which is deemed to be in contempt of the House.
Standing Order 36(12) states that any member who makes statements that mislead the House is deemed to be in contempt of the House and may be referred to the rights and privileges committee.
“As an MP in authority and a member of the medical fraternity, she has to be mindful and responsible with her words and not allow them to feed into unproven conspiracies that are not evidence-based.
“Fact of the matter is, she was given many opportunities to apologise and withdraw her statement (but) she continued to mislead both the public and the House,” Yii said.
He said Halimah was attempting to further mislead the Dewan Rakyat by denying that the statement was even uttered and requesting that the House refer to the Hansard to prove her claim.
“However, according to the Dewan Rakyat’s Hansard on Feb 14 as well as a video recording of the proceedings, it clearly shows that such a statement was spoken in the House. Evidence of such was also furnished to the Speaker for further action.
“Therefore, to ensure that each parliamentarian is held to the highest standard of accountability in our speech and deed, I urge the Speaker to approve the motion that was submitted in the House,” he said.
Halimah created a stir when she allegedly linked the government’s low-cost meal scheme to autism and cancer during the Dewan Rakyat’s debate on the royal address on Feb 14.
The transcript obtained from the Hansard available on the Parliament’s website showed that she said the B40 and hardcore poor should not be fed “low quality food” that could “cause them to be exposed to cancer, autoimmune diseases, to autism and others”.
Halimah’s comments last week led to brickbats from MPs and autism-related groups, but she later said her remarks had been misunderstood.