The recent 10 percent hike in Plus' toll rates went relatively unnoticed by the Malaysians thanks to the tsunami disaster which has hogged the media limelight since Christmas.

The Barisan Nasional government conveniently managed to keep the discontent over the toll hike away from them. Nevertheless, millions of Malaysians will definitely feel the pinch whenever they travel. And it must be remembered that this not the end of toll hikes - there will be one every three years.

Why the so-called 'caring' government cannot renegotiate the toll rate agreement with United Engineering Malaysia (UEM - the holding company of Plus) is not so puzzling if one realises that the government would rather increase its revenue indirectly at the expense of the highway's users.

BN knows that Malaysians have a very short memory. Soon, everyone will forget about the toll increase and continue paying the tolls as usual. When the next toll increase comes along in three years time, some people will again make noise but the government will have its way as it has done since Independence in 1957.

What this shows is that BN has mastered the game of fooling voters at every general election. People have failed to realise that there must be check and balance in any system. As such, when it comes to a general election, the people do not use their voting power to wisely to introduce this safeguard in Parliament.

The argument often heard is that we have no choice but vote BN. 'BN is the only party with a proven track record,' they say. But how do we know that others cannot perform better if we do not give them a chance to govern?

In any case, it is not possible for the opposition to come to power within the next several general elections. The only thing that we Malaysians can do is to reduce the majority of the ruling coalition so that there is a sufficient number of opposition MPs in the Parliament to provide the check and balance that is badly needed.

There have been many abuses by the government which have gone went unchecked due to the insufficient number of opposition MPs to expose wrongdoings. We need not one Lim Kit Siang but several more like him.

It seems that BN, with 90 percent of the seats in the Parliament under its belt, is so intoxicated with power that it has decided to 'reward' the generous voters with an unreasonable and unexplainable 10 percent increase in Plus' toll rate.

To add salt to the wound, we are being prepared to accept this increase every three years. Hopefully, voters will be more intelligent the next time a general election comes around and vote for a much needed check-and-balance system to put a stop to abuses like these.