Stating that Pakatan Harapan (PH) had a good chance of defending the seat, Azrul said he did not want to take the contest lightly as he was facing the president of a party.

“We have the advantage in that PH is united, while on the other side, everything remains a question,” he said after filing his nomination papers this morning.

“It is not just about fielding candidates to represent your party, finding one who will go to the ground to meet the rakyat and solve their problems is most important.

“You can pick the biggest political figure to represent Bayan Lepas, but he must be ready to serve the people,” he said.

Azrul is seeking to defend the Malay-majority seat in a straight fight against Lau, whose candidature was a surprise as the seat was marked for a PAS candidate but was given to Gerakan instead.

This led to small protests among PAS grassroots who insisted that a Malay candidate from PAS be fielded instead of Lau. However, Lau played this down and said this was all due to “poor communication” within Penang PN.

Azrul, who is from Amanah, was elected Bayan Lepas assemblyman for the first time in the 2018 general election (GE14).