Bad roads may lead to bad tourism

The Star

28-05-2025

When guiding a tour, we frequently engage in lively discussions with our tour members about the significance of observing local customs and progress. We emphasise that a reliable indicator of the civility and modernity of a society lies in the cleanliness and maintenance of its public restrooms.
Additionally, the presence of potholes on the asphalt roads serves as a valuable gauge of road safety and infrastructure development – bad or good.
I once read that tourists visiting Malaysia should be wary of two things that could be 'deadly': Lightning and thunderstorms that could lead to tragic incidents; and road accidents. Many tourists believe that road safety in Malaysia is not great and may cause serious injury or even death.
According to the Global Burden of Disease Report 2024, Malaysia ranks third globally in road accident fatality in 2021, with 23.7 road accident deaths for every 100,000 people. These numbers may have possibly gotten worse by now.
A March 21 report in a local newspaper citing official statistics, said that one road user dies every two hours in a road accident in Malaysia.
In other words, road accident fatality is a big issue for us. And this is not just about the attitude of road users, it is also about the country's infrastructure itself. Is the quality of our roads far below international standards?
I am pretty sure many road users will feel worried about the safety of our urban roads, even in well-developed areas like the Klang Valley. We have gotten so used to drivers not turning on their signal lights when switching lanes, or deliberately stopping by the roadside to create unnecessary congestion.
Apart from these, our roads are known to be habitually submerged in floodwaters due to clogged drains after a heavy downpour, resulting in massive traffic standstill.
And then there are the many, many potholes.
I assume that most of us have helplessly accepted these issues as the norm in Malaysia. But surely, our government should do more. Something substantial needs to be done to permanently solve these problems. At the very least, we need to start working on trying to solve them.
Online, you can find lots of discussions on the reason for the poor quality of Malaysian roads. Some say it is not a consequence of technological inadequacy but rather of mismanagement and a lack of supervision.
Some are even bold enough to assume that it is a result of cutting corners on the part of contractors.
If this last bit is the case, I could only imagine standard materials being substituted with inferior alternatives. Otherwise, how could a newly paved road have so many potholes after merely a few months of use?
Please don't blame the rain for this because other countries have adverse weather conditions too, yet their roads remain well-maintained.
I happen to come across Taiwan's then-mayor Ko Wen-je on the streets of Taipei several years back. He was heading a technical team studying the morning peak-hour traffic patterns in the capital city.
The team discovered that a slightly elevated road shoulder at a road junction that caused turning vehicles to slow down by an average of five seconds, had eventually caused a remarkable 10 to 15-minute traffic hold-up.
This discovery prompted the city government's traffic design team to modify the road design to optimise flow efficiency. Notably, even though Taipei had already boasted some of the best road qualities in the region at the time, the city authorities still spared no effort in making traffic flow smoother, as well as the roads safer.
In fact, countries around the world are putting a lot of effort into improving the quality of their road networks. In the past few months, I visited many developing cities, including Jakarta (Indonesia), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Kampala (Uganda) and Windhoek (Namibia). I found that the quality of their roads had improved significantly, especially the surface of the asphalt road which uses European Union-standard black bitumen. This material is highly durable with lasting road markings.
I also saw large sprinkler trucks spraying the road surface with water to keep them clean in many cities across the world. This is done so that gravel and garbage do not clog the drains.
By comparison, our roads in Kuala Lumpur are said to be among the most unsightly among major capital cities of the world.
Even in some of the so-called 'garden' housing estates, the asphalt road surface, road shoulders and back alleys are often in a state of disrepair. Even a freshly paved road could be pockmarked with holes in just a few months' time.
So, who should be held accountable for such a problem? Perhaps the relevant authorities should send their people to Vietnam and see how they build and maintain their roads.
Excellent infrastructure plays a pivotal role in spearheading a country's economic development, and is a long-term investment to lift the living standards of its people. Most importantly, it also reflects a country's international image and competitiveness.
If you have to repair roads over and over again in a short span of time, that could only mean that you are using low-quality materials.
A country needs to improve its roads before it can get rich.
The implementation of the visa-free entry policy by the Chinese government has provided unprecedented convenience for international travellers. If you happen to visit China, do take a good look at their public roads, railways, urban greening initiatives and other infrastructure.
A local guide once told me that a road construction contractor in China can face legal sanctions – even imprisonment – if found guilty of cutting corners, resulting in road accident casualty.
High-quality roads not only help improve traffic flow, minimise exhaustion and enhance efficiency, they also effectively reduce the incidence of road mishaps. This is the single most important task for any government.
Asphalt roads across Malaysia are just not good enough, in my opinion. The sheer number of potholes on our roads pose tremendous risks to road users.
To reduce road accident fatality, we will need to first get our roads properly paved. I hope that soon, something will be done to fix this problem.
The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.
Leesan, the globe-trotting traveller who has visited 147 countries and seven continents, enjoys sharing his travel stories and insights. He has also authored six books.