PSC To Meet Attorney-General On Indelible Ink

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reforms is scheduled to meet Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail on the proposal to use indelible ink in the coming general election.

PSC on Electoral Reforms chairman Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said Gani had been invited to appear at the fifth PSC meeting Wednesday as members of the committee wanted to hear from him on the matter.

"PSC has invited the AG to give his opinion on the legal matters raised at the public hearings pertaining to the constitution," he told Bernama when contacted.

"Most of the members believe the proposal to use indelible ink can be implemented but they want a clearer explanation from the AG as based on Article 119, one can say because they don't want to be marked, they are forbidden from voting and that infringes on their rights," he added.

For the past one week, various parties had given their views with some, including former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and current president Lim Chee Wee saying that the use of indelible ink required no constitutional amendment.

They said the proposal could be implemented without changing the constitution if the use of the ink was included in the election regulations as Section 16 of the Elections Act allows the Election Commission to make regulations.

Committee member Datuk Alex Nanta Linggi said the committee members were in favour of the proposal of using indelible ink but they wanted the legal issues to be cleared as the committee did not want to arrive at a wrong decision.

The main concern is that the election results can be nullified following petitions, resulting from the use of indelible ink where the many legal experts and lawyers are divided on this issue.

Another committee member P. Kamalanathan said from various feedback and inputs gathered, the NGOs, individuals and political parties were in favour of the proposal of using indelible ink.