JOHOR BARU: Tens of thousands of foreigners are stuck in long queues at the two land checkpoints with Singapore following a major technical glitch, which has knocked out most of the immigration autogates on Saturday (Jan 10).
The worst affected is the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs Immigration and Quarantine Complex (BSI), whereby foreigners are forced to wait up to two hours to clear immigration.
It is learnt that at least 39 autogates at the entry and 29 machines at the exit areas of the bus halls at BSI were experiencing problems for a few days, but totally crashed on Saturday due to the huge influx of foreigners during the weekend.
The Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB) Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex (KSAB) has 12 autogates.
Malaysians using their local passports are still able to use the autogates, while the system for motorcycles and cars was also functioning properly.
“Even the autogates at the KTM train station at BSI were knocked off-line,” a security official said, adding that efforts were being made to restore the system in stages.
“This is the first major disruption this year, and the timing is bad especially when we are getting a lot of foreign visitors in conjunction with Visit Malaysia and Visit Johor 2026,” the official said.
The official added that the Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) has been directed to open up all the manual counters to handle the influx of people.
The official said so far, the situation at KSAB was still manageable.
In July last year, a similar incident occurred which knocked off autogates in major checkpoints around the country affecting more than 380,000 foreigners.
At press time, AKPS is in the midst of issuing an official notification about the disruption to urge visitors to be prepared for delays.
Since June 1, 2024, visitors from 63 countries, as well as diplomats serving in Malaysia and their family members, have been eligible to use the autogates for faster clearance.
