KOTA KINABALU – If there is one thing that annoys Sabahans about the state, aside from water shortages, it would be its roads…its damaged roads, to be exact.
It is not just the potholes that raise a Sabahan’s ire, but also the uneven surfaces and crooked motorways.
The pitiful state of Sabah’s roads has been the cause of many flat tyres, cracked sports rims, and at the extreme, even deaths.
Many locals are frustrated, with some telling The Vibes that it is “useless” to complain to the government.
However, not all are taking this problem lying down.
Samsul Asmara, for instance, had decided to vent his spleen in a Facebook video where he described the deplorable road conditions through his parody of a famous Indonesian song.
Going by the name of Abg Sam on Facebook, he produced a three minute, 35 seconds music video with a montage of viral pictures and videos of bad road conditions, including accidents shared via the social media network.
Samsul’s song, called Jalan Sabah Yang Menyedihkan (The Sad State of Sabah Roads) is a parody of renowned Indonesian singer Ebiet G. Ade’s 1978 hit titled Berita Kepada Kawan (News for a Friend).
Interestingly, Ebiet, who came to fame in the late 1970s and carried on throughout the 1980s and 1990s, would usually pen songs about disasters.
For instance, Berita Kepada Kawan was written after a poisonous gas disaster in Dieng Plateau.
Even though Samsul was obviously trying to make light of the situation, there are darker elements in his music, reflecting Ebiet’s own artistic tendencies.
Among the more amusing and darker parts of Samsul’s lyrics include:
“My body is shaking as I drive on this road,
There are small holes, big ones, and medium-sized holes,
Punctured tyres are pretty much the norm,
Heck, there are even those who have lost their lives.”
Meanwhile, Sabah's Public Works Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, who is also the state’s deputy chief minister, has been reported as saying previously that not all the roads in Sabah are maintained by the state government.
“In Sabah there are seven categories of roads namely federal roads, state roads, district council roads, rural roads, village roads, logging roads, and palm oil estate roads,” he said in a statement posted on Facebook last year after the issue of the poor conditions of Sabah roads had gone viral.
Bung also noted that the road infrastructure did not receive enough funding from the federal and state governments.
While Samsul noted in his song that all the Sabah ministers may have become fed up with the constant complaints over the road conditions, many believed Bung was just trying to change the topic.
When contacted by The Vibes, Samsul said: “I made the video just for fun and to express my feelings about today’s realities.”
Since Samsul posted his video three days ago, it has garnered over 2,900 views and tonnes of tee-hees. – The Vibes, January 19, 2022
