A glitch in Malaysia’s self-service border control machines hit tens of thousands of travellers, the immigration department estimated on Saturday, causing delays at the capital’s airport and land crossings.

Among major gateways affected since Friday afternoon are Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s two main terminals, as well as southern land crossings with Singapore.

“It should be more than tens of thousands of travellers who have to wait longer at the manual counters to clear immigration,” estimated Zakaria Shaaban, the director-general of Malaysia’s Immigration Department.

Zakaria was unable to give a precise number of people affected when asked by AFP.

“We don’t have many manual counters over in Johor because we have converted most of them into autogates,” Zakaria said, referring to the southern state that neighbours Singapore.

Malaysian daily The Star said that the breakdown has been described as the “worst ever”, involving over 200 machines and affecting only foreign passport holders.

Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority warned people intending to travel to Malaysia to expect delays.

“Those who are already at the land checkpoints and need to U-turn can approach officers for assistance,” it said in a Facebook post.

Since June 2024, travellers from 63 countries, as well as accredited diplomats and their families, have been allowed to use Malaysia’s self-service machines for immigration clearance.

The Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency said initial investigations found that the “technical disruption” was due to a data integration issue.

“This caused the delays in the cross-checking process within the MyIMMS (immigration) system,” it said in a statement.

“All manual counters have been fully activated and additional personnel have been deployed to manage the flow of visitors and control the queues at the best capacity,” the agency added.