PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) will not allow an incident like the immigration autogate glitch at Johor Baru to happen again, says its director-general Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain.
He publicly apologised for the severe disruption to immigration, which occurred at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) Customs Immigration and Quarantine Complex in Johor Baru and Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) at the Second Link on Jan 10.
“But this is not an excuse as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has instructed us that this must not happen again, especially during this Visit Malaysia Year,” he said in a press conference at AKPS headquarters here yesterday.
To prevent a repeat of the incident, Comm Mohd Shuhaily said all AKPS commanders are to inform the headquarters immediately if there are early signs of immigration system issues.
He said this was important as entry points across the country transition from the old Malaysian Immigration System to the new National Integrated Immigration System.
“During this upgrade, glitches may occur due to data migration and infrastructure issues. While all precautions are taken, sometimes Murphy’s Law can still occur.
“What matters now is how quickly we troubleshoot and respond.
“As and when systems fail, commanders must react fast to ensure entry and exit remain as smooth as possible, even if it means using manual processing.
“If counters are not operating during a breakdown, that is a commander’s failure – and you will see me personally going down to the ground,” he added.
In Johor Baru, state works, transportation, infrastructure and communications committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said both the autogate land checkpoints with Singapore have been rectified and are back in operation as of midnight on Sunday.
However, at press time, it is still not clear what caused the glitch, which knocked out most of the autogates at both checkpoints for about 48 hours since Saturday.
The BSI has 39 autogates for entry and 29 for exit, while the KSAB has a total of 12 autogates.
The system crash mainly impacted those going through the bus halls where autogates are utilised.
The issue only affected those with foreign passports, as neither Malaysian passport holders nor those travelling using cars or motorcycles were affected, as they do not pass through the autogates.
This is the second major breakdown involving autogates, as last year there was a nationwide breakdown involving more than 200 autogates, which affected only those holding foreign passports.
