All Malaysian civil servants have been barred from using the navigation application Waze with immediate effect.
The directive was issued via a circular dated 20 October 2026, as sighted by SoyaCincau.com. Signed by Chief Secretary to the Government (KSN) Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar, the ban follows a decision made during the National Cybersecurity Committee (JKSN) Meeting No. 3/2026.
The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, resolved to implement the ban due to concerns over Waze’s ties to Israel. While PM Anwar highlighted the JKSN meeting in a Facebook post yesterday, he did not explicitly mention the civil service ban on Waze, which became a subsidiary of Google after it was acquired in 2013.
In the same Facebook post, he also recommended users to utilise the Tuju navigation app, which was developed by Prosignal Consortium for the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM), as an alternative to Waze.
Meanwhile, the circular also said that all ministry secretaries-general and department heads are required to ensure the decision is communicated immediately across all levels, including related agencies and departments, for full compliance.
The circular added that any inquiries or requests for clarification regarding the execution of the directive should be sent to the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) under the National Security Council (MKN), Jabatan Perdana Menteri, which serves as the coordinating agency for the matter.
