Indelible ink is .... delible

Barely hours after ‘indelible’ ink was used for the first time in Malaysia, complaints have emerged that the ink is in fact removable.

This is contrary to the Election Commission’s (EC) assurance that traces of the ink would last at least seven days on the finger after being painted on with a brush.

One soldier, who had marked his ballot in advance voting this morning, said he had removed most of the ink with water alone - just six hours later.

“Only 30 percent is left, and I haven’t even used soap yet. The standard is like stamp (ink) pads, which is not very strong.

“On the nails, it is 100 percent gone. It is a little difficult to remove from the seams. On the skin, I think it would be gone with rigorous washing with soap,” said the soldier in a text-message.

He did not wish to be identified.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua said some 20 security personnel had approached him to demonstrate how the ink can be “completely” removed with a hand sanitiser gel.

“This is very disappointing,” he said when contacted, adding that he had lodged a police report at 2pm today.

He called for EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof’s resignation.

[More to follow]