GEORGE TOWN, Aug 3 — Incumbent Bayan Lepas assemblyman Azrul Mahathir Aziz is confident of defending his seat against Gerakan’s Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai to serve the constituency for the second term.

The Penang Amanah vice-chairman, who is contesting under the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional unity front, said he has a five-year track record of serving his constituency compared to Lau who is a newcomer to the area.

"The people here will vote based on the candidate they know.

"They will choose the one who can go down to the ground to help them, who is always around and will be on hand to help in times of need,” he said after a ceramah kelompok at Balai Sepakat in Kampung Masjid in Teluk Kumbar here.

He said over the past five years, through the Covid-19 pandemic, he was always on the ground helping the people from seeing to funeral arrangements for his constituents who were poor to repairing the roofs of village houses affected by storms.

"During the pandemic, we also helped them a lot, especially those who lost their source of income, so I have always been around to help my constituents,” he said.

He said he never expected to go against a party president in this election to defend his seat, but he believes the constituents will vote based on the one who can serve them better.

"Even if Perikatan Nasional (PN) was to field a PAS candidate, I believe the constituents will choose the one who is always around to serve them,” he said.

However, he conceded that it will be a tougher fight if he was going against a PAS candidate as compared to the Gerakan president.

He said the seat consisted of about 64 per cent Malay voters and that they will be more inclined to vote a Malay-Muslim candidate as they would prefer an assemblyman who could look into Islamic issues in the area such as those related to mosque management, surau, Muslim cemeteries and handling of funerals for Muslims.

He reminded the constituents that Lau is a newcomer to the area, and he might not even know where some of the kampungs are located.

"For the past five years, I have worked really hard to serve the people here and even now, I feel there is so much more to do for the people here,” he said.

He said the constituency is made of a large portion of rural areas, so it is not easy to take care of the kampungs.

"We must take a stand against Gerakan, we must not let them win here because he is an outsider, he is not a local, he will not know about the local issues here,” he said.

He said Lau is also a non-Muslim so it would be difficult for him to handle Islam-related issues such as helping poor Muslim families with funeral arrangements or managing mosque issues.

Azrul said the BN election machinery has also been a big help in his campaign as for the first time, he is now able to enter BN stronghold areas.

Prior to Azrul winning the seat in 2018, the Bayan Lepas constituency has been a BN and Umno seat for many terms.

"I believe there are around 3,500 Umno members in this constituency and this does not include their supporters and family members, so it is now part of our campaign to remind them that BN is now with PH,” he said.

He said BN voters may be confused when they couldn’t find the BN logo, so his campaign is also focused on making sure these voters know that a vote for PH is similar to a vote for BN.

He then called on PAS supporters to vote in solidarity with him as a fellow Malay Muslim.

"We have to stand in solidarity against Gerakan, this is not about race, but about standing in solidarity together to make sure we have the right person to represent the people here,” he said.

Azrul won the Bayan Lepas seat with a majority of 5,245 votes in 2018.

The Bayan Lepas electorate in 2018 comprised Malays (64.4 per cent), Chinese (29.8 per cent), Indians (5.2 per cent) and others (0.4 per cent).