PETALING JAYA, Feb 19 — Even as local authorities struggle to keep Malaysian roads in good repair, a citizen’s group that voluntarily finds and repairs potholes say the solution is simple.

Azlan Sani Zawawi, who leads the Ikatan Silaturahim Brotherhood (Brotherhood) that has been independently fixing damaged and pothole-ridden roads since 2011, said the answer was to prevent roads from falling into disrepair in the first place.

Azlan, who goes by the nickname Lando, said it was better to stop the problem from happening rather than trying to fix it afterwards.

"When it comes to maintenance culture, we are not there yet,” he told Malay Mail.

Once the roads become damaged, Azlan said Malaysian attitudes meant the problem would be perpetuated even when the supposed repairs take place.

From the inadequate signs and barriers warning motorists of the ongoing repairs to the seemingly lackadaisical attitude to something as basic as letting tarred roads dry, Azlan said road repairs undertaken by the authorities were simply disappointing.

He said this demonstrated that Malaysia’s bad roads were not the result of some technical shortfall, but because those responsible did not care to do a good job.

"The irony is that Malaysia has the skills and knowledge to build and maintain roads properly. However, when it comes to patching it up or just filling in potholes, proper procedures are not met.”

Azlan also disputed the authorities’ reasoning that bad weather and overloading were primarily to blame for bad roads, insisting it was more to do with shoddy contractors.

He expressed frustration over the authorities’ refusal to take stricter action against these contractors, saying it showed a lack of consideration for motorists’ welfare or the use of public funds.

"These contractors get away with sub-par work as no one is there to monitor the quality of their work. It is so bad that the same pothole could be filled tens of times over,” he said.

In 2007, Azlan lost a friend in a road mishap caused by a pothole in Kuala Kubu Baru. He returned to the site of the accident two weeks later and realised that the pothole was still not fixed.

From then, others began joining him in the undertaking and they eventually formed the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood heads out a couple times a week, usually after midnight when traffic is low, armed with cones, vests, T-shirts and packets of cold mix tar to fix potholes on their own initiative.