SUBANG JAYA, 20 Sept: A chemistry expert revealed that the indelible ink used in the 13th General Election (GE-13) only contains one percent of silver nitrate.
Steven Ng said, the indelible ink used in elections, in general, have 10 to 18 percent of dissolved silver nitrate to leave a blackish mark and last several days.
“Various people have raised the issue regarding the use of indelible ink, including allegations saying that it is and isn’t permanent.
“But the Election Commission (EC) itself confirmed that the ink is not permanent in nature,” he said when testifying as a witness at the People’s Tribunal at the Empire Hotel today.
Dismissing claims by the Ministry of Health saying that silver nitrate causes cancer as not authentic; Steven said that indelible ink painted on a finger takes about 30 to 40 seconds to be completely dry.
“The EC claimed that it dried on the fingers of voters in less than two seconds, when the indelible ink needs at least over 30 seconds to stay on the finger,” he said.
Meanwhile, the GE-13 People’s Tribunal panel member, Professor Ramlan Surbakti suggested for the EC to learn from Indonesia’s experience in the use of indelible ink.
This is following the use of indelible ink in the GE-13 causing controversy because it was easily removable.
“I have visited Malaysia twice to share experiences with the EC on Indonesian skills in the use of indelible ink.
“I was wondering why the EC did not want to ask other countries on the real way to use indelible ink,” he said.