Potholes have been within the information recently ever since Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Science, Know-how and Innovation, was injured after hitting one whereas biking.

An apology was then issued by the Public Works Division (PWD) in regards to the situation of the highway in Jalan Kampung Sri Cheeding, Banting.

This led social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who’s additionally the Secure Neighborhood Affiliation chairman, to query PWD’s double requirements of apologising solely when somebody of affect bought damage.

He then steered that the federal government type a particular squad to verify for potholes and different highway points as an answer to forestall extra related accidents from taking place.

However behind-the-scenes, we’ve had an current squad doing this since 2007, they usually’re not even backed by the federal government.

They’re Identified As The Brotherhood

The Brotherhood is a volunteer group, fashioned 14 years in the past by producer, director, and activist Lando Zawawi. 

Whereas avoiding potholes as a motorist, he realised that many driving behind him had been additionally risking themselves from the identical hazard. He shared that figuring out this didn’t really feel good in any respect and he needed to do one thing about it.

“I’ve misplaced many associates and know many extra which have misplaced their family members attributable to poor highway circumstances, together with potholes. I bought into fixing potholes as a result of I knew it merely might be finished,” he advised Vulcan Publish.

It’s a sentiment shared throughout lots of the group’s members who go round searching for potholes, marking them in spray paint, and lodging reviews to authorities.

If authorities don’t attend to or repair these potholes in three days, the group will patch it up themselves. This restoration nevertheless, is supposed as a short lived repair till authorities themselves correctly tar the roads.

The price of repairs can value the group between RM20 to RM70 per pothole, relying on the scale of the outlet. Members use their very own revenue to fund instruments and supplies like bauxite and bitumen to repair the roads.

As most of them have day jobs, they conduct their operations in the course of the evening, establishing security cones and blinkers to redirect site visitors.

Every patch up requires a staff of three on a district highway, whereas 15 members are wanted for highways. In whole, the group has a minimum of 10,500 members throughout 54 groups current in each state.

What Do Authorities Say About It?

The Brotherhood goes by many names, some might know them because the Ikatan Silaturrahim Brotherhood. The group additionally refers to themselves as Insurgent Road Fixers.

Lando advised Vulcan Publish that the explanation for this title was as a result of the potholes had been being fastened with none permits from authorities.

He additionally confirmed that there have been legality points surrounding The Brotherhood’s efforts. However after some run-ins with metropolis councils up to now, he’s bored with serious about what authorities might do to them.

“It’s a must to perceive that each one of Brotherhood’s operations of pothole fixing and roadline markings are finished as a result of our complaints to authorities officers go unattended. A few of them additionally take a particularly very long time to repair,” Lando advised Vulcan Publish.

Just lately, many netizens had been confused by an image Lando posted on his public profile the place he was seen holding an award with the Mayor of KL on January 11.

Many congratulated The Brotherhood for lastly being recognised by authorities on their efforts in making town’s roads safer.

Nevertheless, Lando advised Vulcan Publish that this award was really given to DBKL by The Brotherhood, for being essentially the most improved and responsive Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT) in 2020.

This effort is definitely a part of The Brotherhood’s marketing campaign in educating authorities on highway security for the general public. A few of their previous campaigns focused the general public in informing motorists about using and driving safely. 

One other was in collaboration with the Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) to spotlight the legality facets of being a highway person. It contains subjects like paying for highway tax and renewing one’s license.

Whereas The Brotherhood leads by instance, Lando hopes that their efforts will encourage authorities to take motion and attend to highway points extra  rapidly and effectively.

He additionally inspired the general public to lodge written complaints to the mandatory authorities, as a substitute of simply verbal ones about potholes surrounding their areas.

• You possibly can study extra about The Brotherhood right here.
• You possibly can learn different startups we’ve written right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: Lando Zawawi, founding father of The Brotherhood