Chong ‘not buying’ reason for recent system breakdown at Senari Port

KUCHING: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen yesterday rubbished the reason given by Minister of Infrastructure and Ports Development Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing for the recent system breakdown at Senari Port.

“My friend James Masing said the damage to the Senari Port’s computer system was caused by water entering its electronic conduit. It seems logical but anyone who understands software and hardware knows that this is rubbish.

“Why? Because software does not get damaged by water leakage, only hardware does,” Chong said during a Facebook Live session.

The Stampin MP was referring to the deputy chief minister’s remarks on Saturday, that KPA was doing its best to fix the damage to the Senari Port’s computer system which was caused by water entering its electronic conduit.

Masing had said that KPA had assured that the repair would be done within the next couple of days.

In giving an example, Chong said if one used Laptop A to access an email account but if Laptop A was damaged, the person could still use Laptop B to access the same email account.

“If Laptop A got damaged by water or fire, you can use another laptop to access the email account – that’s the difference between software and hardware.

“Software is providing the declaration for the system to run, so you can use another computer system to operate the software. Nowadays, a lot of things are operating on cloud, you don’t even need a computer to operate but a handphone will do,” he said.

“I don’t know how archaic the (Senari) port’s system is. Just because something is wrong with the hardware and the software – cannot operate. Don’t treat us like fools, we don’t buy that. Just tell us the reason (for the system breakdown). Don’t tell me there is no backup, and software does not get damaged by water,” he said.

As such, Chong who is also Kota Sentosa assemblyman challenged Masing to disclose what had actually happened.

“Is it sheer incompetence of his (Masing’s) ministry or KPA (Kuching Port Authority) that one simple water leakage can jam the whole system for two weeks? This is not acceptable in this era,” he said.

In a statement last Friday, Chong said the breakdown of the computer system had resulted in the rate of retrievals of containers from the port reducing by more than 50 per cent, as the process of container receiving and delivery had to be done manually.

He said in the current era of technology, it was unacceptable that the computer system for such an important service of a government agency could break down for such a long time and without any indication on when it would be restored.