THE CICAK.com

Potholes: A result of our negligence?

By EL PHENG

Anyone in Malaysia who has ever been in a vehicle with any number of wheels must, at one time or another, have experienced hitting a pothole on our roads. By this, I mean real holes, ones that can make your brain shut down for 11 seconds.

No matter how expertly you handle your car (or lorry, motorcycle, unicycle) the pothole will get the better of you, almost as if it has a life of its own.

Being on Malaysian roads, you must have special skills to escape these potholes. If you’re a frequent user of a particular road, then you must remember the exact position and the geographical co-ordinates of that damned hole. If not, be ready for a visit to your favourite workshop.

Some of these holes were put there by natural causes, so they are unavoidable. Perhaps there was a water source under the road, or a pipe that’s been burst since 1997 but nobody really bothered to report it; and if it had been reported, not a single living thing had come to repair it. Or maybe the hole is a secret tunnel that was built during WWII and had never been discovered until today. Or perhaps there exists another civilization underneath the potholes, like the one in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Only the Public Works Department (JKR) knows.

To me, potholes are similar to landslides. Although the landslides cause much more damage than do potholes, both occurrences have the same root causes: negligence and apathy. Until they do damage to the VIPs, they will continue to exist.

Landslides are accidents waiting to happen along the highways. The one at Bukit Lanjan a few years back was not a natural phenomenon. The heavy development all around that particular intersection of elevated highway is the cause, and if you drive along the Karak Highway, look for the top of the hills and you can see the red laterite from afar.

Back to the potholes. The roads we use every day have many kinds of holes - manholes connected to the drains, maintenance holes for Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Telekom or the water company. When there is maintenance work, repairs, or whatever else makes these companies happy, the manholes are prised open. In comes the bulldozer, breaking up half of the road while the workers put up signboards with messages such as “Terima Kasih Di Atas Kesabaran Anda (thanks for your patience).” When the work is done, they cover the roads however they like.

As such, there usually ends up being a big line of uneven tar lying around across the road from Perlis to Sabah. The way they cover them up makes the situation seem like some kind of protest to employers for a late paycheque or something.

Some of them are more or less like road bumps. As a result, those stylish Mercedes Benzes, Lotuses or Toyota Yarises that cruise along these maintenance job catastrophes end up looking stupid, cheap, low-class, or in Malay, “bengong sekejap.”

Problems also arise when the road is being tarred but the manhole covers aren’t installed at the same level as the newly tarred road, creating yet another pothole. It has got to the point where in some cases when a new road is built, the manhole cover is deliberately made to be on a higher level than the road level, with the expectation of later redevelopment of the road. This is quite funny, as this type of pothole is the number-one enemy to the lethargic and myopic drivers coming home late from work.

I read about an old man in Johor Bahru (JB) who voluntarily covers the holes on the road using cement he buys himself. He once was hit by a motorcyclist who didn’t see him doing the job. This old man must be really fed up with the state of Malaysian roads. Although he only uses a bicycle, he could still have been a victim of the potholes thousands of times since the Communists have surrendered.

If he is the one who has to cover these holes, then what the hell is the JKR in Johor Bahru doing? Maybe the workers only act when there are complaints. However, it’s common knowledge that no-one bothers to call them up because of the lousy officers in charge at the office. It’s a waste of time; I’d be better off going fishing (though I don’t even like fishing!).

Malaysia has had a history of negligence – as the saying goes: “Dah terhantuk baru terngadah (Editor’s note: Loosely translated as “you only regret/realise the error of your ways once you’ve been hit).” People will only start paying attention and doing work when someone dies. I myself witnessed an accident when I was in JB where a motorcyclist was killed, not because he hit a hole but because he was hit from the back when he tries to avoid the hole. The road was eventually repaired, but the damage was done.

Potholes may not be on the government agenda these days because the politicians have so many other “holes� to cover. The government feels it only needs to build roads but not maintain them. A few holes here and there – that’s life. One minister might argue that roads in Manchester are full of holes when asked about the problem.

Just like with the public transportation issue, they will never know the experience until they go through it themselves. And just how can they experience these things when the roads that lead to their mansions are well-maintained, with clearly painted lines and bright new neon lights complete with ornaments on the post? I’m not a communist, but I’m sick of hypocritical leaders.

I still remember when I was a kid, and roads in my kampung in Raub, Pahang were really bad because they were frequently used by timber lorries that went in and out of the jungle around my hometown. When recently appointed prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad came to visit, the road was suddenly transformed. It’s the same with the Sultan.

In our capital of Kuala Lumpur, when we host any lousy international meetings between political leaders, everything – including the roads – is going to be touched up. If that’s the case, I just have to wonder for whom these roads were built. Were they built for these leaders or for us, the rakyat? Is it really more important to beautify the country just to please the visitors, but allow our own people to suffer?
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EL PHENG is a contributing writer for theCICAK.

Also known as Lee Osman, El Pheng is an independent script writer and filmmaker, and a DIY musician with his band, The Garrison. He believes art, especially film and music, can turn minds and open people’s eyes towards the truth in society.