PETALING JAYA: The nationwide malfunction of the Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) servers that started on Tuesday led to frayed nerves among many.
Trading company owner Simon Lian, 45, said he made several visits to the JPJ office in Petaling Jaya, but was not given a proper explanation as to when the system would resume.
“It is frustrating as the road tax for one of my company’s lorries has expired, and right now, I am clueless as to when I will be able to renew it,” he said, adding that not being able to drive that lorry had affected his business.
Architect N. Perumal, 57, was irritated and said that JPJ should have a proper back-up plan in case of a system malfunction.
“The least they can do is to provide a letter to us to state that we have tried to sort out our (expired) road tax, so that we do not get into trouble with authorities if we are stopped at a road block,” he said when met at the JPJ branch here yesterday.
Lorry driver Andy Chin, 49, said he travelled from the JPJ branch in Puchong to the one in Petaling Jaya, but became even more disappointed.
“No one told me that it was a nationwide problem and I drove through the rain and traffic to get here,” he said.
Salesman Jackie Seow, 42, said the server glitch had prevented him from registering his new car.
“It is upsetting and an inconvenience to me as I wasted my time travelling here,” he said.
A. Anbalakan, 55, said that it was inexcusable for the system to go into a nationwide shutdown.
“There should be a back-up system in place as this has major repercussions to a large group of people.”
Checks by The Star revealed that a notice was placed at the entrance of the JPJ office here informing the public of the system breakdown.
The notice said the reason for the “indefinite offline” that started around 4.30pm on Tuesday was due to the upgrading works around the main JPJ data centre in Cyberjaya.
When contacted, JPJ director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad said the disruption was due to a construction work glitch.
He said work to lay some pipes had disrupted the cooling system of the department’s mainframe computer, which led to a system failure.
“The glitch also effected 35 government agencies and private companies in Cyberjaya and surrounding areas. I had a meeting with the construction company CEO over the matter,” he said, adding that the JPJ online system was expected to be up and running again soon.
Ismail also apologised to the public for the inconvenience caused.
-The Star
