KUALA LUMPUR: The International Trade and Industry Ministry’s (Miti) website has been inaccessible since it opened for business operation applications this morning.
The website apparently received more than 100,000 applications since 9am for certain businesses to operate during the third phase of the movement control order (MCO).
Miti in a Twitter message wrote: "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."
Meanwhile, some business operators took to social media to vent their frustration after repeatedly failing to gain access to the online application site.
One such person was Facebook user from Penang, Yin Chew Yi Wei who wrote: '"503 Service Unavailable. No server is available to handle this request.'
"Dear Miti, above was what I get the most in every step during registration and i not even success the registration until now since 9am, please do something."
Another user Boon Kiang Ngee said:
“This is as good as none. Very unprofessionally handled. Everyone knows the response will be overwhelming but yet so naive to believe it is manageable with such roll out."
Taurus Chin Ssb also demanded answers for the technical glitch.
"Really disappointed .. Miti shall aware that there are tonnes of applicants .. Please give us some update rather than just keeping silence," he wrote.
Meanwhile, a barber from Sungai Besi also voiced his disappointment for not being able to submit his application today.
"I've been trying to access the Miti website since 9.30am and until now, am unable to connect. It keeps saving 'no servers are available to handle this request. It’s really frustrating." said 39-year-old S. Anand.
The father of two who has been in the business for three years said though no documents need to be uploaded, he still had them prepared last night.
Anand added that he wanted to make sure his application was among the early ones so his chances for approval would be higher because there were another two barber shops around the same area.
"Miti should have expected the traffic on their website and had another site as a backup, since they knew many businesses were affected and keen to reopen. Now I don't know when I can put in my application," he said.
Attempts by the New Straits Times to access the website since morning have also been futile with an error message '503 service unavailable'.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government agreed to allow selected businesses in a few sectors to resume operations in stages during the MCO period.
He had specifically mentioned only certain sectors and businesses would have the privilege to reopen but they had to follow the restrictions under the movement control and observe all healthcare guidelines.