UP LESS THAN 2 WEEKS, Road Transport Dept's website BREAKS DOWN

BARELY two weeks into its implementation, the Road Transport Department's MySikap portal has encountered problems coping with the tremendous load capacity of users attempting to use the system.

This has resulted in technical glitches affecting millions of users, prompting director-general of RTD Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad to describe it as a darurat (emergency) situation.

Ismail said the system, which was implemented nationwide on Nov 1, had attracted 1,000 complaints so far and the RTD was handling it as best as it could.

He said all RTD branches have been directed to open seven days a week until the problems have been resolved.

However, the public has been advised against conducting transactions via MySikap at peak hours to avoid glitches.

Ismail appealed to the public to bear with the slow system until RTD rectifies the situation by buying a server that can cater to the heavy load of users.

"We have determined that the primary problem faced by MySikap is a slow server, which nearly crashed. The small-capacity server could not meet the deluge of users," he said, adding that among the problems faced by users included slow retrieval of its database, errors when inputting data, slow loading and registration errors.

MySikap was designed to handle approximately 1,000 different types of transactions, ranging from vehicle registrations, license and road tax renewals, change of vehicle ownership and summons payments.

It was expected to handle 85 per cent of RTD transactions by 2015, and Ismail said it was inevitable that the initial implementation would face hiccups.

"We only need the system to stabilise.

"It is an excellent system that can meet almost all of an RTD users' needs and is even considered a one-stop centre."

He said RTD had conducted test runs of the system in Malacca and Perlis on Oct 21 before implementing it nationwide.

Ismail said RTD would set up a call centre solely to address issues about MySikap to rectify problems faster.

He said RTD was procuring another server called Z12, which could handle the expected load of online users.

However, he said, the procurement was subject to approval from the government.

"We are working to ensure it gets solved quickly. We foresee that the system will run smoothly by early January, but we hope everyone will be patient in the meantime."

MySikap was introduced to replace the old system, named 'Sikap' which was mainly manual and only had basic transactions.

Malaysia has about 14 million drivers and 24 million vehicles registered under RTD.

The online system initiative was set up in line with the government's transformation programme to boost the use of online services by 2015.

An Institut Memandu Sri Perak employee showing an error message on the Road Transport Department’s MySikap portal. Director-general of RTD Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad (inset) has instructed all RTD branches to open seven days a week until problems with the system have been resolved. Pic by Muhaizan Yahya