KOTA KINABALU: Counter operations at the Sabah Immigration office here are affected due to technical issues with the internal computer system, says Datuk Sharifah Sitti Saleha Habib Yusoff.
The state Immigration director said this was also an issue for the National Registration Department (NRD), Customs Department and Road Transport Department.
“This means the system delay is affecting (the respective departments) throughout the country,” she said, on Wednesday (Sept 18).
“This issue slows down work and causes customers having to wait, hoping the system is restored,” she added.
In such an event, Sitti Saleha said, the state office will communicate with the headquarters in the peninsula to sort out the issue.
“But we accept the advice given by the Home Ministry (KDN) through the Chief Secretary to the Government.
“For now, we are following the instructions from the headquarters to ensure all counters are operational according to the stipulated time,” she said.
Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar had conducted a surprise visit to the Sabah Immigration and NRD offices here and expressed for both departments to improve the efficiency of their counter operation systems to enhance customer satisfaction.
He made the comments in his social media page on Tuesday (Sept 17) after observing the daily operations and counter readiness in both offices.
Shamsul Azri said users had to wait for extended periods due to the immigration counter system prolonged downtime.
He said he had directed the Home Ministry secretary-general to take immediate action regarding the issue.
Besides that, he said he had also requested the KDN secretary-general to review the organisational structure and propose a restructuring of positions within the Immigration Department to prioritise more efficient services.
Sitti Saleha said their office had a back-up team to deal with a user congestion that occurs due to the technical issues, adding the team will work its best to reduce the backlog.
She said a meeting will soon be held between the immigration and NRD director-generals to discuss the way forward to improve the present situation.
