The police believe that they have nabbed a man responsible for splashing red paint on the front gate of Election Commission chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman’s house in Bukit Pantai in Kuala Lumpur.

Based on telephone calls and SMS messages to Abdul Rashid referring to the incident, police officers arrested a 44-year-old security guard in Seberang Prai, Penang yesterday at about 3pm.

KL police chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman said the police were considering the possibility that the incident was connected to the EC’s decision to cancel the use of indelible ink in today’s elections.

They expect that the apprehended suspect will advance their investigation.

abdul rashid ec chairman house red paint splashed 060308 house Although police seized three cans of oil-based red paint outside Abdul Rashid’s home, the items did not assist the investigation as they lacked finger-prints.

On Thursday morning, Abdul Rashid said he woke up to find red paint splashed all over the walls and front gate of his home.

Upon reporting the incident, he said that he thought the act was a politically-motivated reaction to the EC’s unpopular decision.

The EC accepted the proposal to use indelible ink to prevent multiple voting in today’s elections and had purchased about 45,000 bottles of the ink for RM2.4 million. But it announced that it was scrapping this plan on Tuesday.

Election watchdogs, opposition groups and even a few BN leaders decried the EC’s reversal on the indelible ink plan, saying that it opened the door to fraud and depressed voter confidence.