However, Helmy, the Muar Umno Youth chief, said he was not deterred from contesting against the former Muar MP.

He said he was confident that the tide would turn in Johor, as evident from the state election held earlier this year, which BN won convincingly.

“I’m confident of convincing the people of Muar to vote for me, given that I was born and bred in Muar,” Berita Harian quoted him as saying.

Helmy said the locals he had met had expressed a desire for an MP from the constituency to represent them, adding that he had begun reaching out to voters.

Helmy, Syed Saddiq and Perikatan Nasional’s Abdullah Husin are in a three-cornered contest for the Muar seat.

Syed Saddiq, who was then with Bersatu, won the seat in the last general election with a 6,953-vote majority.