The voters of Machap have spoken and they will get the government they deserve. It is obvious that they are comfortable with a government which will not be transparent or accountable and one that sees no wrong in offering goodies and sweet talk whenever it is election time. The Machap voters are obviously willing to condone a BN which will stoop quite low to win votes.

Let's hope these voters of Machap will not whine when they find themselves with more toll to pay when they are next in KL, when the price of fuel is hiked once again, when they find in the near future the prices of their roti kok, 'Shang Chen Mi Fen Tang' skyrocketing or when corruption spreads its wings further. After all, they have provided a licence for the BN to do so with their votes.

In the days to come, the BN leaders will be laughing all the way at how they have managed once again to convince the voters of their goodness and greatness, and the media will go to town as to how the BN won Machap without the need to buy votes. The BN will crow about the voters' happiness with the rudderless leadership of our present somnambulistic PM.

The opposition will lament about the disadvantages they faced during the by-election and the rampant BN-inspired vote buying, intimidation and bribery they had to face. They will probably make a mountain out of a mole-hill of the small dent they made in the BN's winning majority.

Hopefully, they will also realise that despite 50 or 44 years of BN rule or misrule, Bolehland voters are still ever ready to lap up all that is dished out by the BN.

Will the Ijok by-election voters do the same? Time will tell. We can only hope that Ijok voters will wake up and show better sense.