M'sia says autogates 'fully recovered', over 380,000 foreigners affected at Johor-S'pore Causeway checkpoint

The autogate system for foreigners at all checkpoints across Malaysia has been fully restored, said the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (MBCA).

In a press conference at Terminal 1 of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Jul. 20, MBCA director-general Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said that "everything is already up and going".

According to the Malay Mail, the autogate system has "fully recovered" and restored across checkpoints gradually since Jul. 19, including the 36 autogates at Terminal 1 and 2 of KLIA.

The 18 autogates at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex, the Malaysia's checkpoint at Malaysia-Singapore Second Link, were restored at 6 pm.

The 68 autogates at the Sultan Iskandar Building, Malaysia's checkpoint at Singapore-Johor Causeway, as well as four autogates at Johor Bahru Sentral, were operational again by 10 pm.

At least 380,000 travellers entering via Singapore-Johor Causeway affected

Shuhaily said the autogate outage affected more than 380,000 foreigners at the Sultan Iskandar Building, the New Straits Times reported.

He shared that there were approximately 200,000 foreigners entering and leaving through Bangunan Sultan Iskandar on Jul. 18 and about 180,000 on Jul. 19.

He did not reveal the number of affected travellers at the other checkpoints.

Shuhaily stressed that no Malaysian citizens were affected by the autogate issue, as it only impacted foreigners entering or leaving Malaysia.

"We deeply regret what has happened," Shuhaily said.

No signs of sabotage

According to the New Straits Times, Shuhaily stated that there is no indication of sabotage that caused the autogates to fail.

He was reported saying:

"That matter is still under review. At this point, we do not see any indication of sabotage

[...]

For now, I do not wish to make any assumptions that could worsen the situation."

He explained that the glitch in the system was not a breakdown of the Malaysian immigration system, MyIMMS, as it is supposed to be integrated with an international security system.

However, a connectivity issue affected the autogate system, resulting in delays in the screening process and long queues at checkpoints.

"On behalf of the MCBA and the Immigration Department, we apologise for what has happened, and we will do our best to ensure this does not happen again," Shuhaily said.

He added that the MCBA is working hard to prevent a recurrence, wrote the New Straits Times.

One measure, Shuhaily said, they will take in the event a similar failure occurs, is to inform travellers of any autogate issues in advance so that they can plan their journeys accordingly or postpone their trip.

"An embarrassment to the country"

Earlier, the Chief Minister of Johor, Onn Hafiz Ghazi, called the autogate system failure "an embarrassment to the country" and said it "reflects on the government's competence", according to New Straits Times.

He criticised the system failure as untimely, as Singapore and Johor are working closely on the Special Economic Zone framework, which has undermined Malaysia's tourism efforts, the New Straits Times report added.

Top photos via Onn Hafiz Ghazi/Facebook and Ronnie Low via Woodlands Checkpoint Human Traffic/Facebook