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By Mihar Dias October 2026
In Malay, tuju means to aim. Alan Chung, a frustrated user, aimed past it and landed on the next number in the sequence. After tujuh (seven) comes lapan (eight). Hence LAPAN, a free, browser-based navigation system that was apparently built in the time it takes the rest of us to file a procurement query. https://www.dsf.my/2026/10/frustrated-tuju-user-comes-up-with-free-working-alternative-called-lapan/
The government has barred civil servants from using Waze, citing concerns over the security of Malaysians' movement data, and TuJu has been promoted as the local alternative. TuJu was developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority with Prosignal Consortium and launched in November 2025. Reviewers have not been kind. One found its turn-by-turn navigation frustratingly bad, with no live traffic data. Users also report it doesn't support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and it requires a login before you can navigate.
So the nation was told to get lost, politely, with a mandatory registration form.
Chung decided to find his own way. LAPAN runs in the browser, so there is no app to download. It offers 2D and 3D map views. It needs no registration, so your data stays relatively anonymous and safe. https://www.dsf.my/2026/10/frustrated-tuju-user-comes-up-with-free-working-alternative-called-lapan/
Note the irony: an app built to protect Malaysians' movement data was beaten on privacy by a design that simply doesn't ask for the data.
Now extrapolate. If one person with a grievance and a keyboard can ship something that works, what exactly was the consortium model buying? An algorithm doesn't need a ribbon-cutting. A useful one costs far less than the launch event, and the person best placed to build it may be sitting in traffic on the Karak Highway, fuming at the wrong turn he was just told to take.
Here is the uncomfortable arithmetic. We keep saying Malaysia should be a nation of inventors, and we keep hiring the same few vendors to invent for us. Meanwhile the real R&D department is the public: students, hobbyists and irritated commuters, with a laptop, a free weekend and a stubborn streak. Their only qualification is that they use the thing and know it's broken. That is the one qualification no tender document asks for.
Imagine if we took them seriously. Open the data, so builders don't have to scrape and guess. Run small, fast pilots instead of five-year masterplans. Let the public test government software before the minister launches it, not after. Pay for working prototypes, not PowerPoint decks. Treat "built by a Malaysian" as a mark of quality, not a charity category.
Will we? History says we'll form a committee to study the feasibility of studying it. The ministry will announce a "National Inventor Framework" with a logo, a hashtag and a mandatory login.
But Chung has already proven the point for free. Talent isn't the scarce resource here. Opportunity is. Give a frustrated young Malaysian a problem, a little trust and a clear road, and he will find the route. The only open question is whether the rest of us will follow him, or keep taking the exit the app tells us to.
Seven was the plan. Eight is the answer. I'd put nine on the bench, because somewhere, someone is already annoyed enough to build it.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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