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PETALING JAYA: A motorcycle group has warned that as long as authorities like the Public Works Department neglect their jobs, there will be vandals with a cause.
Ikatan Silaturrahim Brotherhood leader Azlan Sani Zawawi, better known as Lando, said such activists were motivated by a desire to bring attention to a problem and a belief that this could be accomplished by defacement or destruction of public property.
He said an example of this was the spray painting of graffiti around potholes.
“It is the Public Works Department’s job to monitor and make sure that every pothole, manhole and sinkhole is fixed,” he said.
“But I bet there are going to be vigilantes who will spray paint the potholes until the authorities realise they should start monitoring and not wait to act until complaints are made.
“When people start complaining, it means the problem is there and probably has been there long before they started complaining.”
Ikatan Silaturrahim Brotherhood members are known for their volunteer work in filling up potholes in the roads. They have also gathered at motorcycle tunnels at night to get the authorities to light the tunnels.
Lando admits he used to be a vandal with a cause.
“I used to spray paint graffiti around potholes back in 2009 when I had no real job. I even planted small plants along Jalan Ampang back then.
“We had no funds but we wanted to make the authorities and public aware of such problems.”
He has since prohibited the members of his group from vandalising public property.
“When I look back, I feel ashamed,” he said.
But it was a bigger shame that the people had to take matters into their own hands before authorities would act, he added.
Early last year, a vandal in Manchester, England, made the news when he spray painted images of male genitalia around potholes to get the local council to act.
Council officials told the Manchester Evening News that “every penny that we have to spend cleaning off this graffiti is a penny less that we have to spend on actually repairing the potholes.”
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