If he wins the Bukit Gelugor by-election, DAP candidate Ramkarpal Singh has vowed to continue the tradition of having weekly press conferences at a coffee shop in Air Itam.

His father, the late Karpal Singh, met the press almost every Saturday at Joo Huat, his favourite coffee shop, situated near the Air Itam Market and the famous Kek Lok Si.

"My father loved to come here, he would have his press conference, his breakfast and then go to the office in Greenhall.

"I hope to continue this if I win, to continue the memories at this coffee shop," he told reporters yesterday.

There was a touching moment when Ramkarpal, speaking to the press, sat at the same spot that Karpal had last sat before he died in an accident on April 17, leaving the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat vacant after winning it thrice since 2004.

And that is how Ramkarpal has been going about his campaign since Monday, invoking memories of his father as well as his contribution to law and politics.

Even the issues he propagates at his daily ceramah are the same as those championed by Karpal such as the unconstitutional implementation of hudud law and selective prosecution of opposition leaders under the Sedition Act.

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Meanwhile, his opponent, Parti Cinta Malaysia Huan Cheng Guan's style of campaigning is by playing up issues in the press on a daily basis.

Like the other two independent candidates - Mohammad Nabi Bux and Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan - Huan ( centre in photo ) does not have the numbers to hold ceramah at several spots daily and so he advertises his candidacy in the Chinese newspapers, and conducts daily press conferences at his operations centre along Jalan Air Itam.

However, he has started to go on walkabouts by visiting the crowded Air Itam market and plans to reveal his election manifesto.

He also tried to be magnanimous in his campaign by appealing to the Election Commission not to penalise DAP supporters who came with drums or "kompang" to the Dewan Sri Pinang on Monday, nomination day, although it is against EC rules.

"DAP has many high-profile lawyers and yet they did not know this was wrong. How do you expect the youths to know it is wrong?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Abu Backer Sidek has only just begun to delve into "Penang issues" and is slowly stepping up his campaign.

He had an unexpected limelight moment when he was confronted by two angry reporters from the Tamil press on nomination day who alleged that they heard him uttering the "pariah" word which is offensive to the Indian community.

Two police reports had been lodged against the lawyer, who runs a legal firm in Kelana Jaya, but he lodged a counter report claiming that the matter was taken out of contest, and that the reporters were instead trying to create chaos at the incident.

The fourth candidate, Mohammad Nabi Bux, after showing up at Dewan Sri Pinang with banners on "Hudud in Penang 2020" is missing on the campaign trail to capture the Bukit Gelugor seat.

While DAP sends out daily programme details via emails, Huan and Abu Backer Sidek keep in touch with the press via whatsapp whereas Mohammad Nabi Bux said he would start his campaign "in a few days time".

Bukit Gelugor goes to polls on May 25, where Ramkarpal is expected to retain the seat for DAP, which his late father won with a thumping majority vote of 41,778 against MCA's Teh Beng Yeam in the last general election.