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Machap By-election Nomination Day Statement  
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Machap, Tuesday) : The 9,623 voters of Machap has the historic opportunity to make the April 12 by-election the most important and meaningful by-election in 50 years of national independence by voting solidly for justice, integrity, good governance, democracy and fair play for all Malaysians – by voting for the DAP candidate Liou Chen Kuang. 

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak described Machap as “a BN stronghold” when announcing the Barisan Nasional candidate Lai Meng Chong yesterday while the Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Mohd Ali Rustam is so supremely confident about the support of the Machap voters that he had declared that he would ensure that the DAP candidate would lose his deposit in the by-election. 

There can be three scenarios on polling day on April 12. 

First scenario - a landslide victory for the Barisan Nasional and a shattering defeat for the DAP, with Mohd Ali Rustam achieving his declared objective of ensuring that the DAP candidate loses his deposit in the by-election. 

Second scenario - Barisan Nasional winning the Machap seat but suffering a major political setback with its 4,562-vote majority in the March 2004 general election slashed to 2,500 or even below 2,000 votes – which will trigger depression and despondency in Barisan Nasional camp, particularly MCA. DAP would not have won the Machap seat in the by-election but would be regarded by all observers as having scored an electoral victory. 

Third scenario – DAP winning the Machap seat in the by-election, which is quite improbable but  not impossible. This will presage major political changes in store for the country and in particular in the next general election, a clear signal that the Barisan Nasional risks losing its political hegemony of uninterrupted two-thirds majority in the Malacca State Assembly and Malaysian Parliament and more unless the Abdullah administration is prepared to honour its 2004 general election pledges. 

All eyes in Malaysia are now on Machap, but if Machap is to make it into the history books for the next 50 years, April 12 must see either the second or third scenario becoming reality.

(3/4/2007)