Akmal Nasir, the right-hand man of PKR's Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, plans to take on incumbent Shahrir Samad in the Johor Baru parliamentary seat in the next general election.

"Akmal is going to contest in Johor... He is from Johor.

"He will take on Shahrir Samad, and he is from Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK), 40 years junior to Shahrir, who was from the same college.

"Let them fight, and I think he (Akmal) will win in Johor," Rafizi told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview at his Pandan service centre today.

However, Umno veteran Shahrir had announced in March that he was considering quitting politics by the next election.

In the last general election, Shahrir won by a majority of 10,134 votes against PKR's Md Hashim Hussein, a former army chief.

Akmal (photo), the National Oversights and Whistleblowers (NOW) executive director is a "bright, young chap" with all the potential in the world, said Rafizi, who founded NOW.

He added that he was not grooming Akmal to take over his constituency in Pandan, as no one should get a "free ride", especially someone who hopes to be a political leader of substance.

"I don't think he wants to contest in Pandan anyway, because people will always say 'Oh, you got an easy seat, and so on'.

"Akmal knows he has to go back to Johor."

Rafizi is facing charges under Section 8(1)(c)(iii) and 8(1)(c)(iv) of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) - one charge for the possession of Page 98 of the 1MDB audit report without authorisation; and another charge for the unauthorised disclosure of the document.

The charge under Section 8(1)(c)(iii) provides for a jail term of up to seven years, if found guilty, while Section 8(1)(c)(iv) also provides for a maximum seven-year jail term, upon conviction.

An MP fined more than RM2,000 or sentenced to more than one year's prison term would lose his or her seat in the Dewan Rakyat and be barred from contesting for a seat for five years.

The decision on Rafizi's OSA case will be delivered on Monday.

Asked if the party had discussed a replacement for his parliamentary seat in case he is convicted, Rafizi said the topic had not been brought up at all.

"I think people feel it's so insensitive to talk about who will stand here.

"It's like someone will gain when I go to jail (so) it has not been broached at all."

However, Rafizi remained confident that even if he were to become ineligible to contest for Pandan in the next general election, the opposition would still be able to retain that seat.