I refer to the malaysiakini report Samy: They can go to hell! I am sure our overworked works minister, who is known to have a very short fuse, must be feeling the pressure of his job as most Malaysian are blaming and cursing him for the recent toll increase.

Blaming the messengers of the terms of the one-sided toll agreements and asking the police to investigate them is not a good answer towards solving the people woes regarding the toll increase.

The long-standing minister still hasn't got his maths right. The public is not against tolled roads but more against the one-sided agreements with toll concessionaires which benefit the highway operators while the poor public pays through their noses for tolls.

The public needs to know how much is the cost of building the highways and whether cost overruns could have occurred which inflated the price of these roads. Why is it that with the increase in traffic, these highway operators cannot make decent profits and keep increasing toll prices yearly which burden the poor motorists?

Street protests by the public against toll rate increases shows that the people are very angry with the government due to latter's unpopular decisions to burden the public with rising costs which affect the former's monthly incomes.

By turning a deaf ear to these protests, the present regime is showing a lack of empathy with the common people and angry voters might teach the present government a lesson in the next polls by voting for the opposition.

Maybe it is about time the long-standing works minister step down to make way for younger leader who are more attuned to the needs of younger voters. This same advice should be followed by aging ministers who long overstayed their welcome. Failing to hear the people's grouses might make angry voters either 'abandon ship' or vote in new and energetic politicians to replace the old come the next polls.

Let's vote for those who follow the straight road and let not the liars, cheaters and self-serving continue in office. This in order for our country to prosper like other well-developed and well-managed countries in the First World.