KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — The Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s (Miti) microsite for applications by companies wishing to operate during the third phase of the movement control order (MCO) will be temporarily shut down between 2pm and 4pm today.
In a press statement, the ministry said that this was required in order to reconfigure the system to handle the tremendous amount of traffic it faced this morning.
“Miti has found that the majority of these visitors are not companies but individuals who are accessing Miti’s portal. The number of visitors which was too high is not in line with the number of companies in the sectors that were approved.
“Therefore, Miti will reconfigure the application system to ensure that only companies in the sectors that have received approval to operate will be able to access the application system,” said the statement.
The government website had recorded a massive spike of up to 176,000 visitors in the first two hours after official working hours began at 9am.
Miti also advised applicants to go to application.miti.gov.my after the shutdown is over and for companies included in the approved sectors to have their documentations at hand.
Earlier this morning, irritated businessmen began complaining to Miti on social media websites such as Twitter — questioning the sudden spike and alleging preferential treatment for ‘crony’ companies.
User @_hafiz sent a Twitter message to Senior Minister in charge of Miti, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, (@azminali), his political secretary Hilman Idham (@hilmanidham) and the ministry itself asking why the website was inaccessible.
“Hi, due to heavy traffic, the MITI Portal shows temporarily inaccessible. More than 100k companies have applied so far in the system. Please keep trying and the server will direct when a slot is available. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused. Thank you,” was Miti’s earlier response.
In the same thread, user Mel Abu Bakar (@mel_abu) said she has been trying to access the website for three hours since 9.01am but kept facing failure to log in.
She questioned whether companies with “links” to the government were granted earlier or special access.
On April 10, Putrajaya released a new list of industries allowed to operate, after earlier announcing that the MCO has been extended for another two weeks.
Among the list of outlets allowed to operate within the standard operating procedures are barbers and laundry, but not self-service outlets for the latter.
Other sectors allowed are: Automotive (limited to complete built-up models, equipment, components and after-sale services such as maintenance); hardware, electrical and electronic stores and optometrists in the wholesale and retail industry; machinery and equipment; and aerospace.
