Lim Guan Eng Calls TuJu App a ‘National Embarrassment’, Says LLM Is Working on Improvements

On Wednesday (21 October), all Malaysian civil servants were banned from using the popular navigation application Waze following concerns that government information and users' personal data could potentially be exploited by Israel.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also urged Malaysians to stop using the application, which was founded by three Israeli entrepreneurs in 2008, and switch to locally developed alternatives such as TuJu.

DAP MP describes TuJu as a ‘National Embarrassment’

Meanwhile, Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng has described the locally developed navigation app TuJu as a "national embarrassment".

Image Credit: Harian Metro

According to Lim, user feedback suggests that the TuJu app is currently falling short of expectations, and he has received numerous complaints regarding its effectiveness.

"Malaysians support replacing Waze because of concerns over security risks involving citizens' information and movement data, especially when the application is subject to Israeli laws. However, they do not support replacing it with an application that is, at best, defective and, at worst, a complete failure," he said, as quoted by Malay Mail.

Although Lim expressed support for measures aimed at protecting national security, he stressed that proper due diligence and rigorous testing are necessary to ensure any replacement can match Waze's core navigation capabilities.

He also claimed that the Prime Minister had been "wrongly advised" on the matter and said those who convinced Anwar that TuJu was technologically ready should be held accountable.

Lim urged Anwar to reconsider the decision and instead task the National Cyber Security Committee (NCSC) with developing a significantly improved version of the app.

LLM working on TuJu app upgrades

Following the Prime Minister's remarks, the TuJu navigation app, developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM), experienced disruptions after a surge in new users triggered technical issues.

According to reports, LLM has apologised to users who encountered difficulties while using the application.

Image Credit: NST

The agency also said it is working closely with the app's provider, Prosignal Consortium Sdn Bhd (PCSB), to identify the root cause of the disruptions, restore system stability, and expand the application's capacity to accommodate the growing number of users.

In addition, LLM said it is addressing feedback related to navigation functionality, route accuracy, and the overall user experience.

"Improvements will continue to be implemented to ensure that TuJu can provide more stable, accurate, and user-friendly services."

Featured Image Credit: Berita Harian, FMT