OPINION | Sorting WAZE, Not HAZE

By Sam Trailerman

In a masterstroke of strategic thinking that left actual strategists speechless, the government has told 1.3 million civil servants to delete Waze from their phones.

Why? Because Waze's terms and conditions are governed by Israeli law.

Yes. Your uncle using Waze to find the best cendol in Petaling Jaya was apparently conducting international law. That auntie trying to avoid the jam on the LDP was accidentally submitting her location to a foreign legal system. That whole "turn left in 200 meters" thing? That's not navigation anymore. That's geopolitics.

According to Putrajaya logic, your daily commute is now classified information. The pothole you reported near Sunway is a national secret. The fact that you took three rounds to find parking in KLCC? That belongs in the archives of the Ministry of Defence.

Because national security, you see.

To fill this sudden, yawning, Waze-shaped hole in our lives, the government has graciously offered us an alternative. Its name is TuJu. It sounds like a command you give a dog or a cat - "TuJu! Sit!" - And currently holds a glorious 2.6 stars on the App Store.

Read the reviews and you will weep with patriotic pride. Users say it crashes. Users say it is slow. Users say it cannot find locations that have existed since Merdeka. It's not so much a navigation app as it is a philosophical exercise. You think you want to go to Bangsar, but does Bangsar want you? TuJu will make you question everything, especially your decision to download it.

It is like going on a road trip with a friend who is confidently lost. Except this friend was hired by the government, you cannot ditch him at the R&R, and you are legally encouraged to trust him.

Now here is the part where the exaggeration stops being funny and starts needing a stiff drink.

The government has not banned Google. Let that sink in for a moment.

Waze is owned by Google. Google bought Waze. If Waze is a security threat because its legal paperwork mentions Israel, then Google is... what? Google's entire Waze acquisition is literally Israeli. Waze was founded by a bunch of Israeli entrepreneurs who were once Israel's elite military intelligence outfit. Google also just bought Wiz, an Israeli cyber security company, for 32 billion US dollars. That's not a terms-of-service footnote. That's a full-blown wedding.

But somehow, in the grand hierarchy of threats, Waze's lawyers are dangerous, while Google's billions to Israeli tech companies is just business.

It's a much nuanced distinction. Like banning the ikan bilis because you don't like where it was packed, but buying the entire fishing trawler, nets and all, because it came with a Silicon Valley sticker.

When someone in the press actually pointed out this small, inconvenient, universe-sized contradiction, the response from the top was, "Do you think we should shut down Microsoft, Google, Apple and Face book?"

Which is an answer so brilliant it doesn't even need a question. It's like your wife asking why you came home at 3am and you replying, "Do you think we should stop the Earth from rotating?" Technically, it's a question. Practically, it just makes everyone more confused.

And let's talk about who this ban actually applies to. All civil servants. No exceptions.

This is a very important detail because, as every Malaysian knows, a good number of civil servants don't drive Myvis. They drive Alphards. Big, white, shiny Alphards with curtains. And those Alphards come with a massive screen that can run Waze beautifully. It's clear, it's convenient, and it makes you feel like a VIP on the way to a meeting that could have been an email. So now you're sitting in an RM300k MPV, with seven air-conds, legally required to pretend you're lost because your 2.6-star app thinks Putrajaya is in Perlis.

When a spokesperson was asked about this, he said with a straight face that the government is committed to data sovereignty and that TuJu is a world-class navigation solution. He then reportedly asked the reporters not to use Google Maps to find the way out of the press conference building, because that would be missing the point.

But who actually owns TuJu, this world-class, 2.6-star marvel?

TuJu is a joint venture between the Malaysian Highway Authority, LLM, and a private company called Prosignal Consortium Sdn Bhd. They signed the deal back in May 2022.

On the government side, the man signing for LLM was its Chairman, Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari. On the private side, were the Managing Director and Executive Chairman of Prosignal. Fast forward to November 2025. TuJu finally launches. And who is now the Chairman of Prosignal Consortium? The very same Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari.

No, he didn't hold both chairs at the same time. Don't be rude. That would be a conflict. He just... moved chairs. One day he was on the government side of the table, approving the project. The next day he was on the private side of the table, owning the project. The door just revolved. So smoothly, so quietly, you'd think someone had used the highway maintenance budget to oil it.

Nothing illegal, of course. It's all perfectly legal. It's just that it looks exactly like what it looks like.

And while we are sorting out navigation, we have still not sorted out HAZE. The sky is grey, our lungs are filing for divorce, but at least we have sorted out WAZE. Priorities.

Someone on the internet said it best: "They gave the contract to a local who cannot compete with Waze. So they have to ban Waze? So the local can look like a successful businessman."

Harsh? Yes. Inaccurate? You tell me.

Others asked a simpler question: Is it really about Israel, or is it about police reporting? Because everyone knows the best feature on Waze is not the navigation. It's the little police icon. The "police reported ahead" warning that has saved more Malaysians from saman than any lawyer ever could. Maybe, just maybe, someone didn't like that.

And let's not be naive. If we are going to ban everything linked to Jewish companies, we should throw away half the internet. Are we going to ban pagers next? Remember Lebanon? Hezbollah's pagers blew up and took their privates with them. Should we ban that too?

So, what is the real intention here? Is this genuinely about national security, or is this about helping TuJu?

Let's do the security test.

If it was truly about security, you would ban the parent, not the child. You would ban Google. You would ban Waze for everyone, not just civil servants. You would audit the whole system, explain the data risk, and show us how location data flows, where the servers are, who has access. You would do it like a country that is serious about data sovereignty.

You would not do it like a man shouting "Israeli law!" while still using Gmail, Google Classroom, Google Meet, and Google Maps to go to do some religious after life activities.

If it was about security, you wouldn't replace a battle-tested, globally trusted app used by hundreds of millions with an app that cannot find Jalan Alor and has a rating lower than a roadside burger stall that gave everyone food poisoning.

So that leaves option two.

You have a local app. It's expensive. It's been in development since 2022. It launched in 2025. It has 2.6 stars. Nobody wants to use it. The reviews are brutal. The taxpayers are asking questions. The joint venture partners are looking at their ROI and sweating.

How do you save it? You can't make it better overnight. That's hard work. But you can make the competition illegal. For 1.3 million people, overnight. With one memo.

You create a captive market. You force 1.3 million civil servants - teachers, clerks, and officers, directors - to download your app. Ew your download numbers look fantastic in the next board meeting. "Look, YB, 1.3 million users!" You don't mention they were forced, or that they delete it the second they leave the office, or that they still use Waze in their personal car with their personal phone.

It stops being about protecting the nation. It starts being about protecting an investment.

And the most beautiful part? The official vehicle of the man at the top is an armored BMW - not a new purchase, it's a BIUPA protocol vehicle, please do not ask again - and even that car is might be confused. The driver is outside, squinting at a paper map, saying, "TuJu says turn left, but there's a wall here."

We sorted Waze. We still can't see the sun because of Haze. But at least now we are lost with sovereignty.

Nganasegaran (tapessam@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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