PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub says his handphone number had been cloned to send racist text messages, and has denied any involvement in sending such messages.

NONE Salahuddin ( right ) said he was at the Kelantan PAS office last night where he received several text messages from three numbers complaining of  racist text messages that he had sent to them.

The text messages alleged to be sent from his handphone read, “Cina telah cuba tolak kuasa Melayu, tetapi gagal. Chinese are not the king maker. Sekarang masa Melayu bersatu untuk ajar Cina. Sebarkan.” (Chinese have rejected Malay power but have failed. Chinese are not kingmakers. Now is the time for the Malays to unite to teach the Chinese. Spread the word.)

Salahuddin, who was defeated in the Pulai parliamentary seat in the May 5 general election, denied ever sending such text messages and suspects  that his SIM card must have been cloned by irresponsible parties.

“There are irresponsible quarters trying to link me with the text messages. I understand that I am not the only one, as (party) deputy president Mohamad Sabu is also affected,” he said.

Following this, Salahuddin lodged a police report at the Kota Bahru police station at 12.10am today and has asked mobile phone operator Celcom to bar the sending of any messages from his handphone number.

NONE He said Kelantan police recorded his statement this morning at the Kota Bharu police station, where he was quizzed for about 30 minutes.

Mohamad ( left ) - who is better known as Mat Sabu - was reported by Harakahdaily as saying he was told today that he had sent racist messages reading, "Mampus Melayu... Hidup cina..." (Death to Malays, Long live Chinese).

Mohamad denied sending any such message and he will be lodging a police report.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin said that despite his defeat in Pulai and in the Nusa Jaya state seat as well, he would remain in Johor and strive to keep PAS and Pakatan Rakyat prominent in the southern state.

He said Pakatan's overall performance in Johor had been good, as the state could no longer claim to be an Umno or BN fortress.

“I will live and die in Johor, and being a vice-president (of PAS), I will improve the party machinery to ensure Pakatan will perform much better in the next general election.

NONE “If in the past, BN won by margins of 20,000 to 40,000 votes, like once in Johor Bahru with Shahrir Samad ( left ), these are things of the past.

“Now, the margin has reduced dramatically as I loss in Pulai by 3,000-plus votes. But before the postal votes arrived, I was leading by more than 500 votes.

“Similarly, in Johor Bahru, PKR candidate General (Rtd) Md Hashim Hussein lost by 10,000 votes against Shahrir.”

Now, Salahuddin said, Johor was like states such as Terengganu, Perak, Kedah and Selangor, where the opposition has gained inroads.

His loss in Pulai, he added, would give him more time to consolidate the position of PAS in the southern state.

In the 13th general election, the DAP proved to be the biggest winner in Johor among the opposition coalition, capturing the parliamentary seats of Gelang Patah, Kulai, Kluang and retaining Bakri, while PKR won in Batu Pahat.

In what has been Pakatan's best showing in the southern BN stronghold in terms of state seats, the coalition won 18 out of the 56 seats, with 13 won by DAP, one by PKR and four by PAS.

Members to decide Salahuddin’s vice-presidency

NONE Salahuddin said his defeat and that of Mohamad in Pendang, vice-president Husam Musa ( left ) in Putrajaya and PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad in Kuala Selangor does not spell the end of progressive members in the Islamist party.

He said Mahfuz Omar, retained as Pokok Sena MP, as well as PAS lawyer Mohd Hanipa Maidin, who won in Sepang, were the right choices.

“The party decided that we would send several top leaders to contest in the various areas, like Husam, who is from Kubang Kerian, and he agreed to go to Putrajaya, and I myself to Johor.

“Winning and losing is part and parcel (of elections) as we have to take risks, especially in Putrajaya and Johor.

“The seeds of change have arrived, despite our losses, and we will build on this momentum that we have now to make a greater impact,” he said.

Asked about to his prospect of retaining the PAS vice-presidency despite his loss, Salahuddin said it would be up to the delegates to decide at the end of the year.

To a question on PAS Ulama not supporting the mass gatherings held by the opposition, such as Wednesday's mega rally , he said he does not view the directive as conflicting with the recent gathering as it had been carried out peacefully and without arms.

“It (the rally) is to object to the unlawful means used by BN to retain power. The protest is for clean and fair elections, as what is demanded by Bersih. There are a lot of issues that the Election Commission should answer, for there were also foreigners being allowed to vote,” he said.

NONE “If it were on a level playing field and based on the mood of the people, we would have won more seats.

“There are problems of non-transparency in the early voting and the various pledges made by the caretaker BN government, which were in blatant disregard of a caretaker government.”

On the situation in Selangor, Salahuddin reiterated PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's support for caretaker menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim to be retained for a second term.

Asked about suggestions that PKR deputy president Azmin Ali wanted to be the menteri besar, Salahuddin said the issue did not arise.