Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has clarified that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad did not lie about his resignation.

"Mahathir did not lie and I did not lie either.

"All this is known by the prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak)," Pandikar ( photo ) told reporters at his official residence in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

Yesterday, Mahathir said Pandikar's denial about his resignation had left him red-faced and gave the impression that he (Mahathir) was a liar.

Last Saturday, Mahathir disclosed that Pandikar had resigned but Pandikar issued a denial several hours later.

Dr M embarrassed himself

Pandikar said it was not his attention to embarrass the former prime minister, but he thinks Mahathir was too engrossed in toppling Najib that he accidentally revealed details of their meeting.

He said while he did bare his soul to Mahathir, whom he respected, he was shocked that the former prime minister made the matter public.

"Firstly, I would like to apologise to Tun for what I said today, it will hurt his feeling.

"To me, Mahathir's statement has embarassed himself as he had broke personal confidential ethics between individuals who are discussing things not meant for the public.

"Maybe, in Tun Mahathir's excitement, he did not advise me to discuss my problems with Najib, rather he asked me to resign immediately," Pandikar said.

'I want to continue my job independently'

He said he did not want to be involved in the ruckus between Najib and Mahathir and wanted to continue his job as the speaker independently.

He also asked the reporters not to chase him at his office or in the Parliament lobby to get clarifications regarding the issues.

"This is a 'kampung' man. With 'kampung' integrity. Im not involved with any kind of hanky panky.

"I told no one in advance about this press conference. I'm a grown man. I'm 60 years old already," Pandikar added.