Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, who is director of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Ethnic Studies, said this was because many voters cast their ballots based on party logos, not candidates.

He gave the example of PKR’s “eye” symbol, saying that some might have trouble differentiating it from PAS’ “full moon” logo, especially as ballot papers were printed in black and white, not colour.

“Of course, the voters in, say, Bangsar and other urban areas can tell the difference between PKR and PAS symbols in greyscale. But what about the older folk?” he said to FMT.

Even waving PKR flags could be an exercise in futility, he said, as voters would face black and white ballot papers on polling day.

“You can wave your colourful PKR flags all you want outside, but in the voting booth, it’s black and white.”

Unlike the 2008 general election which saw one-to-one fights, he said, the 14th general election would see at least three symbols being used: Barisan Nasional’s (BN) “dacing” logo, PAS’ “full moon” logo and PKR’s “eye” symbol.

In greyscale, the clearest of the three would likely be BN’s, he added.

He said the situation would also frustrate older Chinese voters who were used to voting for DAP’s “rocket” symbol, and the more senior Malay electorate who supported the opposition.

“All this time, they have been marking the rocket. With the new eye symbol, they will be left confused.”

“For the lack of the rocket, they will likely resort to the next best thing, which is the ‘dacing’ symbol.”

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