While everybody is raising hell and crying foul over the APs, may I point out that this whole thing had its root in Dr Mahathir Mohamad's personal economic belief that in order to become a first-world nation, Malaysia must have an auto industry.

Despite the country being quite small and Detroit now slowly dying because of the Japanese and the Koreans, the former prime minister still believes that economic multiplier effects would be tremendous when every Malaysian home has two or three cars.

Now this ill-thought out policy is slowly coming back to haunt us. As a result of the rapid expansion of the auto industry, Proton is now slowly being put to death by foreign cars and other domestic manufacturers.

The biggest problem is the construction of roads, highways and viaducts all which can never keep pace with the number of cars and other vehicles that are coming onto the roads daily, not to mention the motorcycles.

As a small country, we would have been better off investing in trains, trams and buses to cover every inch of our country to the extent that people need not drive to go to work or to send children to school. I need not emphasis the benefits to our environment.

But the auto industry is now in full swing. Car producers and their accomplices (banks and insurance companies) couldn't care less whether we are killing each other on the roads or whether most car buyers are actually struggling with their household budgets due to hefty chunks of their incomes going towards car loans.

What can we do? Nothing I guess. Just sit in your car and watch more accidents happening and more bridges and viaducts collapsing.