ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Public Works Department has been directed to inspect the august House of Johor state assembly following technical difficulties that disrupted its sitting on Monday (May 13).

Johor works, transportation, infrastructure and communication committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the department would propose improvements after a complete investigation.

He added the inspection would be made next week after the current state assembly sitting is adjourned.

“The disruption that occurred yesterday involved the audio system, not the electricity supply. After the disruption, we reset the system and it worked as usual.

"Among the factors that have been identified is that it is old equipment that has been used since 2016. We will see if there is a need to replace part of the equipment or directly replace the audio system of the state assembly hall," he added.

Fazli said this to pressmen when met during the state assembly sitting held at Bangunan Sultan Ismail here at Kota Iskandar on Tuesday (May 14).

Fazli added that among the factors that need to be taken into account was the usage frequency of the system and equipment because the state assembly meets only four times a year.

On Monday, Johor Speaker Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi said the technical difficulties that disrupted the state assembly sitting were embarrassing and should not happen again.

Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi was delivering his speech about the Forest City development when the audio suddenly went silent at 9.35am.

It was learned that there were issues with the audio system in the state assembly hall.

The state assembly resumed after about 20 minutes, with Puad strictly reminding the building management to ensure no repeats of the incident in future.

“I hope the management will be more alert and monitor the state assembly hall’s system because what happened was quite embarrassing. I even had to temporarily halt the session.

“I do not want to hear excuses. We must stop the culture of excuses.

“We must have first-class facilities and a first-class mentality,” he said.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/05/14/public-works-dept-to-inspect-technical-glitch-that-halted-johor-state-assembly-sitting