Bad start to the weekend: A large crowd of mainly foreign tourists were stuck for more than an hour at the BSI in Johor Baru following a sudden system failure which resulted in the autogates not functioning.
Disruption comes as weekend crowds flock to JB
JOHOR BARU: Chaos erupted at the Johor-Singapore land checkpoints after thousands of foreigners were stuck in long queues due to a major technical glitch which crashed the immigration autogate system yesterday.
The Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Complex (BSI) was the worst affected as travellers had to wait for more than an hour to clear immigration.
At press time, the autogates were still not fully operational, forcing immigration authorities to clear passports manually and rely on a contraflow system to manage the long queues.
Among those waiting in line was Singaporean Zulkhairi Aris, in his 30s.
He said he had to wait 90 minutes to clear immigration for a process that would normally have taken between 30 and 45 minutes.
“We were told to use the manual counters to scan our passports because something happened to the autogates,” he said, adding that he usually visits Johor for shopping once every two months.
Another Singaporean, Pearly Siah, 37, said this was her second experience being stuck in a long queue due to faulty autogates.
“Last year, my family and I were stuck for almost three hours after the autogates failed during a peak weekend,” she said, adding that she had to wait nearly 90 minutes to clear immigration yesterday.
Siah said she felt sorry for senior citizens, as they had to endure the long wait.
Meanwhile, a security official said at least 39 autogates at the entry areas and 29 machines at the BSI bus hall exit areas had been experiencing problems over the past few days, but completely crashed yesterday due to the huge influx of weekend travellers.
The Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (KSAB) at the Second Link has 12 autogates.
Malaysians with passports were still able to use the autogates, while the system for motorcycles and cars was functioning properly.
“We had to activate a contra lane at the BSI bus halls to manage the high volume of people.
“We are also asking travellers to also use QR clearance,” an official said, adding that efforts were immediately taken to restore the system in stages.
The official said this was the first major disruption this year.
“The timing is bad, especially when we are getting a lot of foreign visitors in conjunction with Visit Malaysia and Visit Johor 2026,” official added.
The official said the situation at KSAB was under control and that the Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) was directed to open the manual counters to handle the influx of travellers.
In July last year, a similar incident occurred which shut down the autogates in major checkpoints nationwide, affecting more than 380,000 foreign travellers.
At press time, the AKPS had issued notices about the disruption, urging visitors to be prepared for delays.
The agency also advised foreign travellers to use the new National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) when clearing immigration at the main checkpoints.
It also said that foreign travellers could still use the manual counters to clear immigration.
