DAP adviser Lim Guan Eng has lambasted TuJu – the local navigation application – as a national embarrassment.
He also wants the individuals who convinced Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to replace Waze with TuJu to be punished as no checks were done to determine whether the local app was technologically adequate.
“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s unveiling of the locally developed navigation app Tuju, created by the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM), as an alternative to Waze for road navigation needs has turned out to be a national embarrassment,” he said in a statement.
“Whilst many support the government’s efforts to protect our national security interests, there should be proper due diligence and stringent testing to ensure that the replacement TuJu can adequately match and replace the basic road navigation functions of Waze.”
“The one to be blamed is the person responsible for convincing Anwar that TuJu is adequate technologically to replace Waze and this person should be punished.
“Did the designers of TuJu get expert advice from the professionals from US, Europe, China or Japan?”
He also highlighted that the user feedback for TuJu was bad. He said TuJu was defective at its best.
“I have received complaints of TuJu’s ineffectiveness and that the government should not make it a compulsory replacement to Waze.
“Malaysians support replacing Waze applications that endanger security risks concerning information and data on citizens’ movements when it is subject to the laws of the Israeli government, but not an application that is defective at best and at failure at worst.”
Lim also questioned Anwar how much public funds were used for TuJu.
“Anwar should also tell the public how much it costs the government to come up with TuJu?”
Chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar issued a directive to civil servants yesterday to discontinue the usage of Waze.
The directive was made after Anwar chaired a meeting with National Cyber Security Committee (JKSN).
The directive stated that secretaries-general of ministries and heads of departments are responsible for informing all officers under their respective jurisdictions, to implement without delay
Anwar raised concerns over information security since the application falls under Israeli government laws.
In light of this, Lim wants the JKSN to improvise TuJu.
The Prime Minister should go back to the drawing board by asking JKSN to come up with a much-improved TuJu version which can perform as an adequate replacement to Waze.
Lim also questioned JKSN’s ability to function when it cannot even meet users road navigation needs.
“How can the JKSN be expected to do its job to ward off evolving cyber threats, strengthen the nation’s preparedness and digital sovereignty when it cannot even fulfill users road navigation needs?” – Oct 22, 2026
