JOHOR BAHRU, Jan 28 (Sin Chew Daily) – Other than former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik, Parti Amanah Negara deputy president Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub could also be a Pakatan Harapan candidate for Johor menteri besar if the coalition wins the Johor state election.

Salahuddin, who is also Simpang Jeram state assemblyman, told Sin Chew Daily he might run in Simpang Jeram again this time to defend the seat for his party.

He also did not rule out the possibility he could be one of the potential candidates for Johor menteri besar.

Salahuddin was the agriculture and agro-based industry minister during Pakatan Harapan’s time.

“As you know, I returned from Kelantan to my hometown in Johor to contest the state seat in 2013. Although I did not win the election that year, I have always been serving the people of Johor.”

Salahuddin later contested Pulai parliamentary seat and Simpang Jeram state seat in 2018 and won both, and helped PH win the federal and Johor administrations.

He said although the Johor PH had decided on seat allocation among member parties, namely PKR and Amanah 20 seats each and DAP 16, there was still room for negotiations with other opposition parties, with a final outcome within days.

“We (PH) will definitely work with MUDA (Malaysian United Democratic Alliance) and our doors are still open on cooperation with Pejuang and Warisan in Johor state election.”

He pointed out that PH would hire a professional social media team to engage new voters.

“Young voters are good at harnessing social media for information. We have faith they will support us!”

He also said the government should allow candidates to meet the voters during election campaign for fairer competition.

Salahuddin declined to comment on the use of different logos by PH parties in the Johor election, as the presidential council had made the decision.

“I hope this logo issue will not make things complicated. I believe the voters have the wisdom to judge and make the smartest choice.”

Meanwhile, a source said although Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik will contest the Layang Layang state seat in the upcoming Johor election and has been nominated PH’s menteri besar candidate by the grassroots, the proposal has yet to be adopted by the PH presidential council.