EC: ‘Rosmah’ banner a form of provocation

SEMENYIH: The Semenyih by-election, which is the sixth held since the 14th General Election, has once again been marred by allegations of electoral offences by both Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional.

Among the most controversial is a banner depicting the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, with a caption that read “Siapa boss? Aku lah boss (Who’s the boss? I’m the boss)”.

Najib has recently become a viral sensation among Malaysians by adopting the “Malu apa bossku” (Why the shame boss?) tagline.

The provocative banner on Rosmah sparked an altercation between supporters at the Sesapan Batu Rembau polling station where it had been hung.

Shortly after, Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam came and tore down the banner, which was recorded live on his Facebook account.

In a press conference later, Election Commission chairman Azhar Azizan Harun labelled the banner as a form of provocation.

He also addressed concerns over pondok panas or canvassing booths that were set up by political parties yesterday following complaints by PSM central committee member S. Arutchelvan.

Azhar said that canvassing booths are not allowed to be set up near a polling station.

Only resting huts are allowed to be set up and that should be located at least 50m away from a polling centre, he stressed.

Meanwhile, electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 lodged a police report at the Semenyih police station over four election offences that it had observed being committed by parties.

Its executive director Yap Swee Seng said that among the alleged offences were the setting up of pondok panas, canvassing of votes beyond the campaigning period, ferrying of voters and taking down of identities of voters.

“We observed these offences committed by Barisan and Pakatan at four polling stations, namely SMK Bandar Rinching, SK Bandar Rinching, SK Kantan Permai and Sekolah Agama Batu Tiga,” Yap said at a press conference here.

He criticised Pakatan and Barisan for continuing to canvass for votes despite knowing that campaigning had ended the night before.