EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun speaks to reporters during a press conference in Kajang March 1, 2019. ― Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

SEMENYIH, March 1 ― It is not an offence to wear a “Malu Apa Bossku” T-shirt on voting day for Semenyih tomorrow as long as it does not feature a candidate or party logo, the Election Commission (EC) said today.

The T-shirt, which depicts former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's social media persona, has been a hot seller since the Cameron Highland by-elections.

“The shirts with the tagline ‘Bossku’ or ‘Malu Apa Bossku’ with Datuk Seri Najib's face can be worn at all the voting centres but it cannot contain any symbol of the party nor the name and face of it's candidates,” EC head Azhar Azizan aka Art Harun said today.

“The EC can take legal action against anyone found to have broken these laws and we can refuse them entry into the voting centres.”

Azhar said if anyone wanted to wear shirts with party logos on them, they must be at least 50 metres from the voting centre.

He also expects a 70 per cent turn out from a total of 53,411 voters in the Semenyih state by-election.

“Malu apa Bossku” refers to a reply made by Najib in a now viral selfie video of him alongside a long-haired man calling out “Boss kita!” (“Our boss!”), and the phrase has now not only turned into a rallying cry among supporters of the scandal-plagued Pekan MP, but has entered popular culture.

The word “bossku” itself was popularised by the “rempit” culture of working class riders, although it arguably originated from the lexicon of the young, middle class Malay in Sabah where it is usually intentionally misspelt “busku” or “bussku”.

Voting for the Semenyih by-election starts tomorrow morning. Barisan Nasional is trying to win back-to-back by-elections after their triumph in Cameron Highlands.