Malaysians riled up over 'pothole situation' in the country

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are up in arms over the condition of certain roads in the country, some of which have potholes that could lead to vehicle damage or even cause accidents that harm road users.

Potholes and broken roads have been a long-standing problem in the country.

On Sunday (Dec 27) Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin hit a pothole and crashed during a cycling trip in Banting.

On Sunday, Khairy tweeted a picture of his bruised face with minor scratches, saying that he had a fall after hitting a pothole while cycling around Kampung Seri Cheeding in Banting, Selangor.

"Pothole, ditch, KJ. 2020 keeps giving," he tweeted.

The Kuala Langat Works Department issued an apology about five hours later.

"The Kuala Langat district Works Department apologises for the incident affecting YB minister and we will take immediate action and we pray for his speedy recovery," tweeted the department.

Frustrated Malaysians took to social media to question if a similar apology would be extended they were the ones injured instead.

Others posted videos and pictures of potholes and bad roads to highlight the problem.

"The ministers can cycle near my housing area next time so our potholes can be fixed immediately," said Syahir LangGulung on Facebook.

In October, there were renewed calls to the government to patch up potholes instead of renaming streets after the Federal Territories Ministry announced plans to rename Jalan Raja Laut 1 as Jalan Palestin to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

There is a group called Ikatan Silaturahim Brotherhood, formed in 2011, which voluntarily fixes potholes when local authorities take too long to patch broken roads.

On Nov 3, it was reported that a total of 52,295 reports on potholes in Selangor alone was recorded on navigation app Waze between January 2019 to September 2020.

From the amount, 37,130 reports were on potholes on roads maintained by local councils and 10,219 were on roads under the Works Department.

Another 4,553 reports were on roads falling under the purview of the Selangor state works department and 393 on roads under the district land office.

JKR Kuala Langat memohon maaf ke atas kejadian yang menimpa YB. Menteri dan akan mengambil tindakan segera ke atas isu berkenaan dan mendoakan YB cepat sembuh. — JkrKualaLangat (@JkrKualaLangat) December 27,2020