KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department is in the midst of procuring 40 more auto gates that will integrate a QR-code system for both Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA 2 by the end of the year.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said this means that there will be 10 additional auto gates at each arrival and departure hall to ease congestion at both airports.
"Currently, if we include both KLIA 1 and KLIA 2, we have 54 autogates. Now, we are opening the usage of autogates to citizens of 63 countries.
Previously, we had 54 auto gates specifically for Malaysians, and they were happy because they didn't have to wait long.
"But since we have opened the auto gates to non-citizens, the dedicated counters for Malaysians have decreased. Therefore, we are adding 20 more autogates at KLIA 1 and 20 more at KLIA 2.
"These new autogates will utilise the latest technology, specifically QR technology," he said to reporters during a corporate visit to Media Prima Berhad (MPB).
Present were MPB group chairman Datuk Seri Syed Hussian Aljunid, Media Prima Omnia chief operating officer (sales) Mohd Efendi Omar, MPB deputy group managing editor Farrah Naz Karim, and Media Prima Television Network News and Current Affairs group editor Azhari Muhidin.
Zakaria said the QR-based system, which also integrates facial recognition, was faster, taking less than five seconds to process a user.
"This is an improvement we are implementing, and currently, the status is at the procurement stage. We expect this to be completed by the end of this year," he added.
Zakaria said that the QR and auto gate systems were measures aimed at eliminating corruption due to the lack of human interference.
"If there's a system issue, it will automatically block or restrict the user. This also prevents any manual interference. There's no way for anyone to manipulate or tamper with the system.
"This is why I mentioned that one of our steps to reduce the risk of corruption is by leveraging technology. If we can fully expand this approach, all processes will be automated without human interaction.
"This will resolve issues such as counter manipulation, abuse of power and other related problems," he said.