Harris Zainul was quoted by The Straits Times, 15 January 2026
by Harith Mustaffa
JOHOR BAHRU – The Malaysian authorities have vowed that there will be no repeat of the system failure that left thousands of travellers stranded for hours at both Johor land checkpoints with Singapore over the weekend, as the Visit Malaysia 2026 tourism campaign kicks off.
The “severe disruption” at the Causeway and Second Link between Jan 10 and 12 exposed coordination gaps and raised questions about Malaysia’s ability to upgrade its 30-year-old immigration system without further chaos.
Malaysia Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) director-general Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said on Jan 12 that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim instructed the agency to ensure the autogate glitch “must not happen again, especially during this Visit Malaysia year”.
“I personally have given instructions to all commanders… Should they see signs that the system is not working well, please let headquarters know in advance so troubleshooting measures can be executed earlier,” he told reporters at an event in Putrajaya.
Visit Malaysia years are nationwide campaigns by Tourism Malaysia to attract tourists and spur the country’s tourism economy. The previous campaigns were in 2020, 2014 and 2007.
Malaysia’s autogates under the unmanned automated immigration entry and exit system require only a passport scan for clearance.
The glitch affected only foreign passport holders at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (BSI) in Johor Bahru and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) at the Second Link, and led to snaking queues in the departure and arrival halls.
The checkpoints have 39 autogates for entry and 29 for exit at BSI, while KSAB has 12 autogates. They serve more than 300,000 travellers daily.
Singaporean Nicholas Tan told The Straits Times he entered Johor Bahru for a short weekend break with ease on Jan 9, but it was a different story on his return leg.
“I had to scan twice,” said Mr Tan, who arrived at BSI at around 2.20pm. His second attempt, after a 10-minute wait, was successful, and he was out of the complex within 20 minutes.
“Everyone was complaining” that they could not scan their passports at the autogate. “But I think I was quite lucky, I was at the front of the crowd,” he added.
Johor’s top official for transport infrastructure and communications Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh announced that the technical glitch was resolved only on Jan 12. The Malaysian authorities have yet to issue a reason behind the disruption.
Analysts warned that glitches may persist as Malaysia undergoes both administrative and technological overhauls at its borders. Problems may be compounded by coordination gaps between the new border agency AKPS and the immigration authorities, who still control key system assets.
“The challenge here is how we see this process through with minimal disruption to the end-user (travellers),” said Mr Harris Zainul, director of research at think-tank Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.
“Compounding the challenge are two things: first, it is a Visit Malaysia year, which raises the stakes; and second, this autogate system is as ‘front and centre’ as it gets with digital public infrastructure, where any downtime would be immediately noticeable.”
Datuk Seri Shuhaily said on Jan 12 that the “ageing” immigration system is being replaced with the new National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe), which will be “the backbone” of Malaysia’s immigration system in the future.
The legacy immigration system being used by immigration authorities is 30 years old. While its data is being transferred to the new one, glitches can be expected “here and there”, Mr Shuhaily said.
Agreeing, ISIS Malaysia’s director for cyber and technology policy Farlina Said noted: “The challenge of systems required to produce continuous service is that upgrading technologies without creating further inconveniences would be a problem.”
This article was first appeared on by The Straits Times, 15 January 2026
