Indian ink for Malaysian polls

Indelible Indian ink will be used to mark the fingers of voters during the March 8 general election in Malaysia. Malaysia is the latest nation to use indelible ink from India. Afghanistan used the Indian ink for its presidential and parliamentary elections.

Consignments of 47,000 bottles of the indelible ink purchased by the Election Commission have arrived here and will be distributed across the country next week, The Star newspaper said Saturday.

Election Commission Secretary Kamaruzaman Mohamad Noor said each state would receive ink bottles according to the voter population in each parliamentary and state constituency.

The indelible ink, costing over RM 2 million ($100,000), will make its first appearance in elections here. It will be applied on the left forefinger just before a person casts the ballot and is said to stay on the finger for at least two weeks.


Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin has dismissed opposition parties' claim of one-sided media reports and says that they too use the media as a channel to promote themselves.

This scenario proved that they had confidence in the media although at the same time they alleged that the media did not give equal opportunities and do justice to them, he said.

"What we can expect is that after the opposition lose, they will say the election was run not according to democratic practices and was unfair.

"The government, meanwhile, will accept whatever decisions except those contrary to the law," he told reporters after filling up a candidate nomination form at the official residence of the Kedah Menteri Besar here today.

In other news, Zainuddin who is incumbent Member of Parliament for Merbok, will stand for the Sungai Petani seat in the March 8 general election where he is expected to face Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate Johari Abdul.