KUALA LUMPUR, June 27: The increase in cost to purchase ‘impermanent indelible ink’ for the 13th General Election (GE-13) has been claimed to be three times the cost of the previous election, which is RM7.1 million.
During the 12th General Election (GE-12) in 2008, the total cost to purchase indelible ink by the Election Commission (EC) was RM2.4 million even though the indelible ink was destroyed after being disallowed by the government several days before the election took place.
Seremban Member of Parliament, Anthony Loke said that the total amount of voters in 2008 was 10.9 billion people, while in 2013, the total was 13.2 million and involved an increase of only 20 percent.
According to him, the increase in voters by 20 percent caused the increase in cost for the indelible ink to be three times the amount is very shocking.
“I am very aggrieved by the answer from the EC through the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim yesterday who revealed that the total cost for the usage of the indelible in in the GE-13 was RM7.1 million,” he said in a press conference here at the Parliament lobby today.
He questioned the high cost of purchase by the Federal Government in buying items.
For example, the Indian Government contributed 40,000 bottles of indelible ink to Cambodia for the purpose of the election with a cost of RM2.8 million (US$877,800) on June 19.
“Why is the difference in cost so drastic and whatever bought by the Malaysian Government always more expensive?
“Everything is expensive. Tanks are more expensive. Even submarines are more expensive,” he further asked.
In the meantime, he urged the Central Government to take legal action against the supplier of the indelible ink who failed to meet specifications set.
However, the supplier of the indelible ink is protected by the EC which is keeping the company information secret due to safety.
According to Anthony, there is no reason that the supplier of the indelible ink should be kept secret because the GE-13 has already ended.