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Systems restored after major tech glitch strands thousands at Malaysia’s borders on May 28
Malaysian immigration officers were left frantically trying to clear locals and foreigners manually as all computer-based systems were down for five hours on May 28.
PHOTO: NG DK/FACEBOOK
Published May 29, 2026, 10:00 AM
Updated May 29, 2026, 11:12 AM
www.straitstimes.com
JOHOR BARU – Tens of thousands of people were stuck in long queues at entry points across Malaysia on May 28 after the entire immigration system crashed again following a major glitch.
Immigration officers were left frantically trying to clear locals and foreigners manually as all computer-based systems were down for five hours, from 4.30am to 9.30am.
It was the second major crash in just over a month. A similar incident left thousands stranded for about two hours on April 23.
While many complained they were stuck from 4.30am, Immigration Department director-general Zakaria Shaaban said the incident occurred at around 5am and lasted until 8.45am because of technical issues at the Malaysian Immigration Systems (MyIMMs) data centre.
“The system was back online after rectifying work was carried out. The system was not hacked. The MyIMMs system is old, and I cannot ensure that such a problem will not recur,” he said.
“The MyIMMs system is already 30 years old. Problems are bound to happen.”
A new system, known as the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe), is supposed to replace MyIMMs by 2028.
Datuk Zakaria said such disruptions may recur until the NIISe system is up fully.
“We will endure them until the NIISe system is ready,” he said.
Earlier in May, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said during a visit to Johor that the vendor of MyNIISe had been told to prepare mitigation plans ahead of the start of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link operations in 2027.
The government, he said, is committed to minimising any form of technical disruption in the new system.
A Home Ministry official said the latest disruption affected most of the 114 checkpoints nationwide.
Malaysia has 56 entry points via sea, 30 via land and 28 airports.
The official said long queues were reported at both land checkpoints in Johor, as it was “peak time” for tens of thousands of Malaysians rushing to Singapore for work.
“We had to redeploy all our personnel to man manual counters at the bus halls, motorcycle and vehicle lanes,” the official said.
“Not only were our autogates down, (but) even our facial recognition systems were also out,” the official said, adding that additional security personnel were also deployed to maintain order at the checkpoints. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
