EC, workers got RM200 million bonus for GE13
BY MD IZWAN
Putrajaya gave RM200 million in bonuses to the Election Commission (EC) officials and workers who were on duty in the recent general election, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said in a written reply in Dewan Rakyat today.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said RM400 million was allocated to the EC , which was a 100 per cent increase in the budget for the 2008 general election. That was the sum approved by the Ministry of Finance.
"The payment for services and bonuses for all election workers is RM204,100,000," he added.
Shahidan told the house that RM5,081,000 was disbursed as allowance for overtime payment, payment for transport services, utility bills, ICT equipment, telecommunications service payment.
In the lobby, Seremban MP (DAP) Loke Siew Fook questioned the expenses compared to the 2008 general election.
"How come in five years the expenses for a constituency can increase by 100 per cent even though the number of voters had increased only by 20 per cent? RM400 million to carry out elections in 222 constituencies which averages out to RM1.8 million per constituency ? ” he asked.
He said the EC had been generous with public funds especially in the way it had spent RM7.1 million on the indelible ink, which he claimed was not at all effective in preventing fraud.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Shahidan Kassim told the house last Wednesday that food dye and not silver nitrate was used in the ink .
EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof also received flak from MPs when he said that the Health Ministry had warned about possible damage to health.
He had claimed that the ink should not have content of more than one per cent silver nitrate.
However, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the Ministry had issued no such warning to the EC.
He also said the EC had not made any request from to the ministry for any analysis. - 1 July, 2013.
