On an October day, a veteran opposition voice, Lim Guan Eng of the DAP, turned his attention to Tuju, the homegrown navigation app built to take the place of Waze in Malaysia. Behind his sharp words lies an older human tension: the wish for a nation to guard its citizens' movements from foreign reach, and the stubborn fact that people still need a map that simply works on the road. He argues that sovereignty cannot be a substitute for competence, and that a tool meant to protect citizens should first serve them. Whether the project is repaired, defended, or quietly set aside will show how a co
Lim Guan Eng Calls Tuju a 'National Embarrassment' and Demands Accountability for Waze Replacement
Defective at best and a failure at worst
Mark
Why does this statement matter? An app gets bad reviews, politicians complain.
Mimi
Because Tuju isn't just an app. It's pitched as a replacement for Waze on security grounds, so if it fails, the argument for replacing Waze gets tangled up with it.
Luke
Careful, though. What do we actually know about Tuju's performance?
Mark
Only what Lim says. He cites user feedback and complaints he received.
Luke
Right. No numbers, no test results, no examples of what breaks. That's one MP's account of complaints, not an audit.
Mimi
And he's notably not against the replacement itself. He says Malaysians support it because of data risks tied to Israeli law.
Mark
He's separating the aim from the product.
Mimi
Yes, and he calls for due diligence and stringent testing so a replacement matches Waze's basic navigation.
Luke
He also asks what it cost and whether experts abroad were consulted. Those are questions, not findings. We don't know the answers.
Mark
And he wants the National Cyber Security Committee to build a better version.
Luke
Which is a proposal, not a government plan. Nothing here says Anwar has agreed or responded.
Mimi
So the thing to watch is whether anyone answers on cost and testing.
Der Puls
- A press statement from DAP MP Lim Guan Eng calls the locally built Tuju app a 'national embarrassment' and demands someone answer for its rollout.
- Lim says users relying on Tuju are worse off than before, and that complaints reaching him describe an app that fails to function as it should.
- He accepts the security case for dropping Waze over Israeli-law data risks but insists any replacement must first match basic navigation.
- Questions about development cost and whether foreign expert advice was sought remain open, with no figures offered in reply.
- Lim urges Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to reconsider and to hand the National Cyber Security Committee the task of building a far better version.
On an October day, a veteran opposition voice, Lim Guan Eng of the DAP, turned his attention to Tuju, the homegrown navigation app built to take the place of Waze in Malaysia. Behind his sharp words lies an older human tension: the wish for a nation to guard its citizens' movements from foreign reach, and the stubborn fact that people still need a map that simply works on the road. He argues that sovereignty cannot be a substitute for competence, and that a tool meant to protect citizens should first serve them. Whether the project is repaired, defended, or quietly set aside will show how a country balances pride, security, and the everyday trust of those who drive its roads.
On October 22, Lim Guan Eng, the DAP member of parliament for Bagan, issued a press statement delivering a blunt verdict on Tuju, the locally developed navigation app meant to replace Waze. He called it a "national embarrassment" and said someone should answer for it. His anger was aimed not only at the app but at the advice that led to it. He said whoever convinced Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that Tuju was good enough should be punished, and that the Prime Minister had been wrongly advised.
Lim's case rests on what he says users are telling him: people who now rely on Tuju are worse off than before, and complaints reaching him describe an app that does not work as it should. The statement offers no usage figures, test results, or list of faults, so his picture of the app's performance is his reading of those complaints.
Lim separated the goal from the execution. Malaysians support dropping Waze, he said, because the service falls under Israeli law and could expose data on citizens' movements. But they do not support a defective product. Any replacement, he argued, needed proper due diligence and stringent testing to match Waze's basic navigation before launch. He also asked how much Tuju cost to develop and whether its designers sought expert advice from the US, Europe, China or Japan. The statement gives no answers.
He urged Anwar to return to the drawing board and proposed that the National Cyber Security Committee build a far better version. He asked how a body charged with fending off cyber threats and protecting digital sovereignty could be trusted if it cannot meet people's road navigation needs. What remains to be seen is whether the government answers the call for accountability, discloses the cost, or describes the testing Tuju went through.
On Oct 22, Lim Guan Eng, the DAP member of parliament for Bagan, put out a press statement with a blunt verdict on Tuju, the locally developed navigation app meant to take Waze's place. He called it a "national embarrassment" and said someone should answer for it.
Lim's target was not only the app but the advice behind it. He said whoever persuaded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that Tuju was technologically good enough should be punished. He also said the Prime Minister had been "wrongly advised" on the matter.
His case rests on what he says users are telling him. According to Lim, feedback indicates that people who rely on Tuju at present are worse off than before, and he said he has received complaints that the app does not work as it should. The statement does not include usage figures, specific test results or a list of the faults users reported, so the account of how Tuju performs is Lim's characterisation of the complaints that reached him.
Lim was careful to separate the goal from the execution. He said Malaysians support replacing Waze because of the security risk to information and data on citizens' movements, since the service is subject to the laws of the Israeli government. What they do not support, he said, is an application that is defective at best and a failure at worst.
He acknowledged the national security interest but argued that it does not excuse a poor product. In his view, proper due diligence and stringent testing were needed so that any replacement could match Waze's basic navigation functions before it was rolled out.
He also raised questions about cost and process. Lim asked how much it cost to develop the app, and whether its designers sought expert advice from professionals in the US, Europe, China or Japan. The statement does not say what the answers are, and it offers no figure for the spending.
For a way forward, Lim urged Anwar to go back to the drawing board. He proposed that the National Cyber Security Committee, which he referred to as the NSC, be tasked with building a vastly improved version of Tuju. He tied that to the committee's wider role, asking how it could be expected to ward off evolving cyber threats and strengthen the nation's preparedness and digital sovereignty if it cannot even meet users' road navigation needs.
What to watch for is whether the government responds to the call for accountability, discloses what Tuju cost, or describes the testing it went through before launch. None of that appears in the statement.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Malaysians support replacing Waze over data security risks, but not an app that is defective at best and a failure at worst.— Lim Guan Eng, DAP MP for Bagan (paraphrased)
How can the NSC be expected to strengthen digital sovereignty when it cannot even fulfil users' road navigation needs?— Lim Guan Eng (paraphrased)
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Politics & Governance