KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 – At the last general election, some voters applied grease on their fingers so the indelible ink would come off easily, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said this was for the purpose of cheating as the indelible ink was to prevent repeat voting by the same people.

The Arau MP also dismissed allegations that the ink was ineffective, pointing out that only a small number of voters or less than one per cent from the 13 million electorate had complained about the ink.

“Out of the 84 per cent of those who voted, only 1400 had complained or less than one per cent.

“If the ink was removable that is because there are those with bad intentions and applied things like grease or others to cheat,” Shahidan said in his winding up speech on the Royal Address.

The minister also insisted that the ink used during the May 5 polls met the required specifications despite the Elections Commission’s (EC) admission that the low level of silver nitrate could have made it easily removable.

“The EC did not want to use much chemical in the ink and only one per cent of silver nitrate was used due to health reasons,” he said.

Shahidan was caught in a bind when he told Parliament that no chemicals were used in the indelible ink; only “approved food colouring”.

The minister also said in a written reply to Segambut DAP MP Lim Lip Eng that a test conducted on EC officials and media personnel on May 2 “proved” that the ink was effective.

But EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar later contradicted Shahidan and said that the ink did contain silver nitrate, and that it was likely classified as a metal, instead of a chemical, adding that food colouring was used to turn the indelible ink red for early voters and dark blue for ordinary voters.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof had admitted recently that the indelible ink was a “failure”, as he expressed disappointment with widespread reports of the ink being washed off easily with as little as soap and water in the 13th general election.

The indelible ink was introduced in Election 2013 as one of the main safeguards against electoral fraud.

Abdul Aziz said last May that the strength of the indelible ink used in the May 5 polls differed from those used in other countries because of Malaysia’s halal and health regulations.

He noted that the Health Ministry had prohibited silver nitrate content of more than one per cent.