GEORGE TOWN, April 29 – The Bukit Gelugor by-election could be a crowded affair despite a predicted landslide victory for the late Karpal Singh’s DAP there.

Yesterday, a group of Chinese non-governmental organisations (NGO) banded together to form a Barisan Nasional-friendly Penang Front Party (PFP) and expressed the intention to contest the poll triggered by Karpal’s death this month.

“If we can’t contest under the party yet, our candidate will be an independent candidate but during campaigning, he will be telling the constituents about the new PFP,” the pro-tem committee chairman Datuk Go Chui Tiong said.

Before this, Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) vice president Datuk Huan Cheng Guan issued a statement to announce his intention to also contest in the by-election.

“I am a Penangite born at Green Lane and as a thoroughbred Penang ‘lang’, the time has come for me to give back to that constituency which moulded me into who I am today via this open window so this will be the first time I am standing in a constituency on the island,” Huan said in his statement yesterday.

Huan was a former Gerakan vice-president and the Batu Kawan MP between 2004 and 2008. He later left Gerakan to form PCM, but he has not won any seats in the last two general elections.

He believed his past defeats will not be a hindrance to him contesting in the Bukit Gelugor by-election, saying these added to his political experiences and abilities.

“There will be those who may deride my decision but I would like to appeal to the Bukit Gelugor constituents to judge me by my record of accomplishment. They can see what I did for Batu Kawan as MP and even when I was not MP, I continue to serve the people there,” he said.

He promised to maintain the late Karpal’s tradition of relentlessly seeking justice, bringing development to people where it matters, listening to constituents and speaking up whenever necessary.

The Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat was vacated after the late MP Karpal Singh was killed in a road crash on April 17.

Karpal had held the seat under DAP since 2004, winning huge majorities of 21,015 votes in 2008 and 41,778 votes in 2013 against MCA.

Penang Barisan Nasional chief Teng Chang Yeow noted that it would be a tough uphill battle for BN, in this case MCA, in this by-election but that BN will “try their level best”.

MCA is yet to decide or announce on the candidate chosen for the by-election while DAP is still weighing a short-list of five candidates provided by the Penang DAP state committee.

Another independent candidate who wants to jump in on the fray to make the by-election a five-corner fight is Mohamed Yacoob Mohamed Noor who is more commonly known as “Yaacob Bebas”.

The 25-year-old had contested for the Sungai Pinang state seat in the last general election as an independent but only managed to garner 141 votes and lost his deposit.

When contacted, he said despite the constituency having 74 per cent ethnic Chinese voters, he is certain to get some support from constituents.

“Even if I lose in this by-election, I will continue to contest for a seat in the next general elections because I want to fight for the people’s right,” Yaacob said.