Lies and more lies? The EC must go

[Kuala Lumpur June 26] The government has spent RM400 million for the indelible ink during the 13th general election, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.

In a written reply to Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut), Najib, who is also finance minister, clarified there was no chemical used in the indelible ink but instead, it was replaced with an approved food colouring.

“The expiry date for the indelible ink is four months from the date it was manufactured. The inks were imported from overseas.

“The resistance of the indelible ink is subject to the individual and the effort used to get rid of the permanent ink,” he said.

Najib added that the public tests on the indelible ink made by Election Commission officers to the media on May 2 proved that the ink was permanent as previously stated.

Lim in his question asked the prime minister to state the total expenditure as well as the contractors who supplied the indelible ink used during the national polls.

Najib had also confirmed that a total of 216,600 bottles were distributed across the country.

Johor had the highest number with 38,160 bottles followed by Selangor (32,040), Perak (20,640), Sarawak (18,000) and Sabah (16,800).

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof has previously claimed the indelible ink had a high level of silver nitrate and herbal ingredients were used as substitute as the reason why ink was easily removed.

[Source: Yahoo]

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First, the EC said that the ink was not effective because the officer did not shake the bottle.  Then, came the excuse that a low amount of nitrate was used as it might affect the health of the person.  If this was not bad enough, we were then told that there was no chemical at all in the ink but food colouring.  Now, the latest, the ink costs the rakyat RM400m instead of the earlier declaration that RM7.1 was spent. 

WHAT??!!!! RM400m!!!! They distributed about 200,000 bottles. Therefore the cost per bottle works out to be RM2000!!!  RM2000 per bottle for food colouring. Somebody sure made a lot of money!!! It is no wonder that they dare not reveal the name of the supplier!!!