EC plans info blitz on indelible ink

The commission says it wants to prevent sabotage before or during the polls.

PETALING JAYA: The Election Commission (EC) is going on a nationwide campaign to educate voters and political parties about the use of indelible ink.

The campaign will be carried out through TV commercials, brochures and other forms of communication, according to the commission’s deputy chairman, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

Among the main objectives is to prevent sabotage before or during the 13th general election.

“We want to make sure voters won’t be tricked by irresponsible parties who mark them with some other ink come polling day,” Wan Ahmad told FMT.

He said EC officers had been trained to spot the difference between indelible ink and normal ink, but added that the commission wanted to prevent “difficulties” that might arise if voters who had not cast their ballots arrived at polling stations with their fingers already marked.

Asked to explain why he thought anyone might want to mark a person who had not voted, he said: “People can do anything to create problems, maybe to test the efficiency of the EC, or maybe to make sure certain people don’t vote.”

He added that the EC wanted to be prepared although it did not expect the problem to be widespread.

“The whole purpose of having such ink is to prevent double voting. We don’t want anything that will defeat that purpose.”

He said the commission had placed an order with the company that would supply the ink and would call for the shipment as soon as Parliament was dissolved.

“This is because the ink can only last three months before it goes bad,” he said. “We now have the company on standby. Once we give the green light, it will take less than a week for the supply to arrive.”

The location of the company and the colour of the ink are kept secret to prevent sabotage.

The cost, including shipping, would be less than RM10 million, said Wan Ahmad.

The use of indelible ink was one of the key recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms, which was formed after the Bersih 3.0 rally last April.

In the run up of the 2008 general election, the use of the ink was cancelled just three days before the polls. This was on the advice of the Attorney-General, who said there were doubts about its legality.

It was also reported that the police had uncovered attempts to smuggle the ink into the country.