The finance ministry has enhanced the capacity of the MyKasih system to handle up to 15,000 transactions per minute, in preparation for high purchase volumes from recipients of the RM100 one-off Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) cash aid.
Treasury secretary-general Johan Mahmood Merican said the upgrade – a threefold increase from the previous 5,000 transactions per minute – was implemented to prevent technical disruptions, especially during public holidays.
“MyKasih is constantly improving and working to expand its capacity. We are also making preparations for long public holidays when we expect a surge in users.
“When the system was first set up, it was configured for 5,000 transactions per minute. Now, we have raised that to 15,000 transactions per minute,” he said during a briefing for the media at the ministry here.
Yesterday, the finance ministry said the overwhelming response on the first day of disbursement had caused a sudden surge in transactions, resulting in bottlenecks in the payment terminal system operated through the MyKasih network.
It said that although the system was running more slowly, transactions were being received and processed.
The RM100 aid, announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in July, will be valid until Dec 31 and can be used at more than 7,300 retail outlets.
The RM100 aid is credited into the MyKad of over 22 million Malaysians aged 18 and above.
Yayasan MyKasih yesterday revealed that a total of RM91 million had been spent in just two days after the one-off cash aid rolled out on Aug 31, involving a total of 1.45 million transactions nationwide.
On Sunday, it was reported that the MyKasih system faced technical glitches, which caused delays in customers redeeming the RM100 aid. This impacted several hypermarket outlets nationwide, including Mydin, HeroMart, Lotus and Giant.
Many shoppers were reported to have abandoned their trolleys filled with items out of frustration, after being informed about the technical problems with the cash aid redemption.
The finance ministry and MyKasih had apologised for the inconvenience caused by the glitch in the system and said the technical team was actively working to resolve the issue.
