Hacker sends picture of 'smoking monkey' from ex-minister's WhatsApp account

Padang Terap MP Mahdzir Khalid's phone line and WhatsApp application have been "hacked", his special officer Aizat Azam confirmed.

Aizat said he was only aware of the hacking around 10pm last night.

"For your information, although Mahdzir switched off his phone and did not use WhatsApp, the application appeared online, which clearly shows that it has been hacked," he said in a statement on Twitter.

Aizat urged anyone who received an "inappropriate message" from the former education minister's phone number to ignore it.

"All messages and replies using that number on WhatsApp did not come from him (Mahdzir)... just ignore them," he said.

Aizat added that he will report this to the police and also to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

When contacted, Aizat said the hacker had shared inappropriate messages to WhatsApp groups that the Umno vice-president was in.

The messages included a picture of a monkey smoking a cigarette. A number of website links were also shared with the WhatsApp groups.

The hacker also changed the MP's profile picture on WhatsApp.