The authorities in Selangor’s Kuala Langat continued to get heat from Minister Khairy Jamaluddin last night for not fixing a pothole sooner, causing the latter to fall and injure himself over the weekend.
Three days after falling off his bike and landing on his face along Jalan Kampung Sri Cheeding Sunday, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation told the public works department of that district not to wait around for a minister to get injured before jumping into action. The pothole was fixed Monday, just a day after the incident, raising eyebrows among those who noted that the authorities would not have acted so promptly on normal occasions.
“Thank you for the concern. But don’t take prompt action just because I’m a minister,” the 44-year-old said. “If the road already has potholes, don’t wait for days to fix it. Damaged roads need to be fixed immediately as it affects the people.”
Kuala Langat officials apologized to the minister on the day Khairy, better known as “KJ,” tweeted a photo of him showing bruises above his left eyebrow, on his nose bridge, and his upper lip.
“The public works department of Kuala Langat apologizes for the accident. We will take prompt action regarding the issue and pray for your speedy recovery,” @JkrKualaLangat wrote.
People have thrown sarcastic remarks at Kuala Langat authorities over the way the situation was handled.
“There are two ways to get the roads here fixed,” @Adzra tweeted. “One is to wait for an election to happen, the other is to wait for KJ to ride his bike here. The first solution takes time, the second one can be done immediately.”
“Let’s ask KJ to ride his bicycle in Borneo,” @Wan1603 wrote yesterday. “Who knows, we may get new roads.”
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