BOX TRANSPARENT. COST TRANSPARENT?

I received an email from a commentator at this blog. The Star reported that RM16 million would be spent on 50,000 transparent ballot boxes. Being in the plastic industry he says he could do these boxes for RM100 each (profit included) whereas the EC is paying close to RM320 for each box. He posted three questions....i). why 50,000 boxes and ii) has cost-consideration taking into account some retirement or extension renumeration for service beyond the call of duty?. iii) Was a tender called?
I am quite blur about these probing questions. Maybe somebody out there can give us some clear and see-through answers.

master-puppeteer with cutting edge technology - scissors/ink

As early as March I was elated when the EC Chairman announced the introduction of transparent ballot boxes for the impending general elections. This brain-wave initiative must have won the EC Chairman that extension time Parliament so readily afforded him. This fiercely independent Chairman reciprocated the BN parlimentarian by publicly announcing that no regime except the Barisan Nasional party can qualify to govern Malaysia. Of course you can say this without batting an eye when you are the master puppeteer. However I was fascinated by this transparent box, knowing that rampant rigging would be decreased. I was brought down to earth by an incensed watering-hole buddy who spelt this out so clearly: "Old boy, old habits are hard to give up....and remember old boy, in Malaysia....everything boleh.....everything can one.....didnt one of our young boy go into space." But to me it was a cutting-edge innovation because it is normally used in some banana republic and to introduce it in our democratic country says a lot about our willingness to experiment on new state-of-the art processes...... and also to work out of the box!!!!!!!!.....think out of the box or work out of the box......gee, I am confused now.

dang! I brought the specs instead of the palm-grease

Anyway people, let's not flog this old issue about the Chairman to death. We got to live with what we have. They say work with the devil you know rather than the devil you do not know. We cannot afford to have a new chap come in with electoral ideas he may have picked up either in Pakistan or from the Taliban. So thank God for little blessings and let's move on.

mechanised running dogs?

But of course as responsible Malaysians we must be on our guard, be vigilant because new manipulative initiatives could be adopted unlike the old two favorites - palm-grease and under the table running dogs. Somebody told me that they may even apply BOS (blue ocean strategy - eliminate the competition) in the next GE. This I doubt because the guy below is already the cynosure of all eyes and on the radar screen.....and moreover you need best-in-class brains to apply BOS. On the other hand, and this is an unkind thought.....if the BN majority is drastically eroded Parliament may re-amend the constitution to read...."extension will depend on a 90% majority for the governing regime" to read.......a la Trump YOU ARE FIRED.