TODAY has been a little bit of a fiasco, especially for the industrial community.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) announced that applications to continue operations during the MCO will be opened at 9am this morning for companies that fall under the list of new sectors that have been opened up.

It does not take much to see that the application process was not thought out properly. One of the major questions arising was whether companies previously approved would need to reapply.

As far as I know, and I could be wrong, the answer given was that yes, companies would need to reapply. Why?

Next was accessing the website. It was obvious that proper sizing and dimensioning of the website was not correct because many people were simply unable to access it.

For those who managed to get in, there was a requirement for companies to update their list of workers including contact details on the website.

Most companies were aware of this, but many were taken aback by the requirement to manually key in the details. Isn’t this a somewhat archaic method?

Wouldn’t an upload of a spreadsheet have been a more viable option? I know of one company that has 5,000 workers.

Can you imagine how long that would take to key in? Never mind the strain put on the server and thus probably preventing others from accessing the system.

Surprise, surprise, the system crashed and Miti issued a press statement that the system would be closed from 2pm till 4pm. The reason given was that the portal had “seen a sharp increase and reached 176,000 users in the first two hours.

“Miti has found that the majority of these visitors are individuals, not companies, leading to a high number of visitors not consistent with the number of companies in the sector that have been approved for exemption.”

Forgive me, but this is a rather lame excuse. Individuals make up the company so it is only sensible to assume that more than one person from each company would be accessing your portal, if at the very least to get information about what is required or to see the format of the form so that instructions could be given to their staff.

When the system was reopened at 4pm, there were still problems accessing it. Many users received an error message that their IP address was blocked because “access from your country was disabled by the administrator”.

This is not only laughable but also absurd. These are mainly Malaysian companies who would have Malaysian IP Addresses.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so I checked it myself. I got the same error message and my IP address is definitely Malaysian.

It’s 5pm now at the time of writing and many companies have not been able to access the website to register or update their details to seek for exemption to work.

Just take a look at Miti’s Facebook page to see the number of comments and mounting frustration. One whole day has been wasted trying to register on a system that was clearly not thought out properly.

Time and resources have been wasted for companies trying to get back on their feet and help stimulate the already suffering economy. 

Then there are also the intangibles and the reputation of the country. Many of these companies are part of international business associations and chambers of commerce.

Many have foreign investors who are keeping a keen eye on developments in the country. Reports are surely being sent back on a daily basis to their headquarters in Europe, the US, Australia, China and many other parts of the world.

The reports being passed on would be that the system crashed, companies were not able to register and thus there would be a further delay in restarting operations.

I am sure that develops a whole heap of confidence in our capabilities to foreign investors.

Is the minister going to come out and take responsibility for this, or is he just going to keep on stating how committed Miti is in resolving this issue and asking for patience?

It is very easy to blame it all on a system failure but the truth of the matter is that he has failed the industrial and SME community. The buck stops with you, Mohamed Azmin Ali. You have failed the system.

I know that times are tough. For everyone. I know everyone is probably scrambling to get things done but sometimes, it is better to pause and make sure things are working before launch.

Sometimes a little thought needs to be put in to take into account all variables and ensure sufficient contingencies are put in place.

The first time the system was opened up in the earlier phase of the MCO, the same thing happened. The system crashed. Clearly lessons were not learnt.

There have been many other instances where the powers that be today have failed the rakyat. From the warm water minister of health to the TikTok minister of higher education, to the “stay at home, look pretty and speak like Doraemon” minister of women and family development, and her deputy suggesting that women accept and forgive their abusive husbands.

It also seems that every minister wants to come out with some sort of statement or another, often conflicting with statements of other ministers.

Perhaps the Ministry of Health is doing the right thing in letting the DG handle everything, although the fact that he is reflects on the incapability of the minister.

In light of this, maybe it is also prudent at this time that no minister is allowed to make statements with the exception of the prime minister and those in the NSC.

Maybe that will give us, the rakyat, more assurance.

I have restrained myself from pointing out all these ironic and laughable statements thus far as I have felt that this may not be the right time to be highlighting faults.

I also acknowledge the fact that everyone is perhaps trying their best. However, when there are more pressing needs to focus on but you choose to come up with mundane and ridiculous statements for no other reason than perhaps highlight your popularity, then something is seriously wrong.

Some things need to be highlighted and called out, irrespective of the times we live in. You as leaders need to be held accountable at all times, not just the good times.

Sometimes it is best not to keep quiet. – April 13, 2020.

* Dharm Navaratnam reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.