Dewan Rakyat Speaker Dr Mohamed Zahir Ismail today said he was "upset and worried" with the Election Commission (EC) for misleading him on the hiring of Puteri Umno members as temporary workers.

"This incident upsets me. (However,) this is a government matter, not (one for) the Speaker, so it's up to the government (to decide the next course of action)... but generally this incident is not good for all members of Parliament," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

He also expressed disappointment that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor had refused to apologise to the House and him when explaining the issue this morning.

"PAS leaders have demanded an apology, but the minister refused. I don't have the power and can't force them (the minister and his department) to apologise," he said.

Contradictory claims

Mohamed Zahir had earlier sought official clarification from the EC following parliamentary debate on the issue. The commission replied, saying it had "withdrawn instructions" to recruit Puteri Umno members as temporary staff.

Last week, however, the Malay Rulers' Council said the EC had admitted hiring several Puteri Umno members, but that their employment had subsequently been terminated.

This irked PAS MPs, who said the commission's explanation to the Speaker implied that it had not hired any Puteri Umno members.

Asked if this amounted to a lie on EC's part, Mohamed Zahir said: "(You can decide from) the facts of the minister's reply, it's not for me to judge. But the Speaker never intended to initiate telling lies (to the House)... what he (the minister) said, I accept, and I don't have the power to check."

However, Mohamed Zahir acknowledged that Tengku Adnan had personally told him that he was sorry about the fiasco.

"We can't blame him (Tengku Adnan)...he is just the spokesperson for the EC in Parliament. What he said is based on the information given to him by the EC," the Speaker added.

Yesterday, the Speaker rejected the second emergency motion moved by Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) which called for the matter to be urgently discussed.

However, citing standing order 14 (1), Mohamed Zahir allowed the PM's Department to explain the matter instead.

Proof from Hansard

When the debate resumed this morning, Tengku Adnan reiterated in his brief explanation that the employment of seven Puteri Umno members as 'temporary administrative assistants' had been terminated.

"EC decided to consider the applications from suitable applicants according to their qualifications and hire them during the non-election period. They were not hired to carry out duties during the election, as misunderstood by the opposition," he said.

"The recruitment of temporary administrative assistants during non-election periods is normal and is done from time to time. This is to let the EC have additional workers to perform administrative work such as voter registration and data entry."

The minister stressed that the recruitment exercise did not violate the law since it had adhered to administration process allowed by the Public Services Department.

However, the explanation failed to satisfy PAS leaders and a furore erupted.

Mahfuz asked why the PM's Department and the EC had given different versions and claimed that the service of the recruits had only been terminated after the expos by PAS.

Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi (PAS-Kuala Terengganu) then cited two entries in the Hansard , which revealed that the minister and Deputy Finance Minister Dr Jamaludin Jarjis had both said the EC had taken steps not to recruit any Puteri Umno members.

Other opposition parliamentarians also joined in the fray and Mohamed Zahir tried in vain to restore order several times. After 10 minutes, the irate Speaker warned that he would "chase out" anyone who did not listen to him, and calm descended.

Tengku Adnan continued with his explanation but Mahfuz staged a walk-out, eliciting jeers from Barisan Nasional parliamentarians.

At a press conference later, Mahfuz said the party would continue to lobby the Rulers to set up a tribunal to probe the issue and to sack EC chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.