Reports of washable ink, dubious voters, mar voting process

The otherwise smooth voting process of the 13th General Election was tainted by complaints of long queues, allegations of washable indelible ink, voters being barred from voting, and dubious voters turning up at voting centres.

According to PEMERHATI, there has already been hundreds of cases reported to the the official Election Commission accredited election observers before polling centres closed at 5pm.

Wan Saiful Wan Jan, one of the key members of PEMERHATI, said that here has been at least 200 to 300 initial reports from their volunteers and accredited observers on the ground.

Among the complaints and allegations, he said, were that of long queues, indelible ink being washable and of those people who have been barred from voting due to various reasons today.

Various media reports, as well as numerous shared photos and videos on Facebook and twitter, have highlighted these cases for the otherwise smooth sailing polling process throughout the day.

There are many who are claiming that the ink was easily washed off, with many police reports being lodged.

The EC has reportedly responded by saying that the strength of the ink is lower than those used in other countries as Malaysia needed to comply with halal and health regulations.

However, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof still insisted that if it was applied properly, the ink would leave visible traces even after washing.

EC had earlier said that it was not worried about election ink that can be washed off as one voter can only vote once with one IC number.

“I’m not worried about indelible ink washed off today because tomorrow you cannot vote,” EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar reportedly said.

Astro Awani earlier today reported that a voter from Batu, 66-year-old Patimah Sirat, was barred from being able to vote after her name was identified as already having voted. She then lodged a police report and EC has promised to investigate the incident.

There has also been various reports, including videos of certain individuals being confronted for supposedly being “foreign voters”.

In one case related to Astro Awani, DAP’s Teratai candidate Tiew Way Keng said that she is lodging a report over a voter who allegedly admitted to her that he flew in from Sabah last night just to vote here.

“The guy showed us his IC which said that his name was Mazlan, but somebody had already seen his face on Facebook previously where his name is stated as Ramesh,” she told reporters.

“I showed him my hand phone with that picture and asked him three times [if this was him]. He said yes. Then I asked why he has two different names and he admitted [that] he just got his IC last year and that he flew in from Sabah last night,” she said.

She said “Mazlan” also admitted to her the address on his IC was not his.

Meanwhile, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli told Astro Awani that the common complaints that the party has received hundreds of complaints as well.

He said that cases of indelible ink being washable, of confusion between pens and pencils being used to mark the ballot paper, and ballots not getting a stamp by EC officers were top on the list.

In Pekan, however, Prime Minister Najib Razak has expressed his confidence with the electoral process, including painting of the indelible ink.

Meanwhile, AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandez denied allegations that the government had chartered flights from Sabah and Sarawak to the peninsula for a group of foreigners in order for them to vote for Barisan Nasional.

“Every person that came on the flight was a Malaysian mostly Sabahans living in JB. My staffs said mostly are families," Tony said in a tweet earlier today.