TuJu built for stranded motorists on expressways, not to rival Waze, says highway authority chief

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — TuJu was never meant to rival Waze, Malaysian Highway Authority chairman Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad has said.

His clarification comes after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim urged Malaysian civil servants to switch to the local app over security concerns linked to Waze’s Israeli ties.

“It is not a navigation application like Waze,” Hasni, who is also Simpang Renggam MP, told Malaysiakini in an interview published today.

He said TuJu was conceived as an added service for tolled highway users, offering traffic updates, rest area details, enforcement camera locations and emergency contacts, stressing that its real value, Hasni said, lies when the vehicle breaks down.

“If you are stranded on a highway, you can use TuJu to find the telephone numbers of people you can contact and the assistance available,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that the prime minister has told him to upgrade the app, which drew complaints of glitches after a surge in downloads.

Anwar admitted on October 23 that the local navigation app was incomplete.

Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil and Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo have since stressed that TuJu is not compulsory for all Malaysians and that alternatives such as Google Maps remain permissible.

Hasni said he missed the October 20 National Security Council briefing but has read its minutes.

He wants to establish whether the highway authority, better known as LLM – its abbreviation in Malay, short for Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia – and developer Prosignal Consortium Sdn Bhd explained the app’s purpose clearly.

“If the briefing given by LLM to the NSC was misleading, it should not have happened,” he was quoted as saying.

Scrutiny has also fallen on Prosignal’s ties to former LLM chairman Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari, who told Malaysiakini he proposed the project and confirmed it was not awarded through an open tender.

Hasni, who is also an Umno supreme council member, said the LLM board approved the project collectively, stressing: “It was not his decision alone”.

“TuJu is financed by investors in the project, whether through internal funds or loans,” he replied when asked about the lack of a tender, signalling that no government money was involved.

Asked whether TuJu was earning income for LLM, Hasni said he would need to check the project’s return-on-investment projections.

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吉隆坡，10 月 27 日——马来西亚公路管理局主席拿督斯里哈斯尼穆罕默德表示，TuJu 从来就不是为了与 Waze 竞争。

此前，马来西亚总理拿督斯里安华·易卜拉欣敦促马来西亚公务员因担心Waze与以色列的关系而改用本地应用程序。随后，他的澄清才得以出台。

“它不是像 Waze 那样的导航应用程序，”哈斯尼（他也是新邦令金国会议员）在今天发表的《当今大马》采访中说道。

他表示，TuJu 的设计初衷是为收费公路用户提供一项附加服务，包括交通信息更新、休息区详情、执法摄像头位置和紧急联系方式。哈斯尼强调，TuJu 的真正价值在于车辆发生故障时。

“如果你被困在高速公路上，你可以使用 TuJu 查找可以联系的人的电话号码以及可获得的援助，”他说道。

他还补充说，总理已指示他升级该应用程序，此前该应用程序在下载量激增后出现故障，引发了用户投诉。

安华于10月23日承认，本地导航应用程序尚不完善。

通讯部长拿督斯里法米·法兹尔和数码部长哥宾星·迪奥随后强调，TuJu 并非对所有马来西亚人强制使用，谷歌地图等替代方案仍然是允许的。

哈斯尼表示，他错过了 10 月 20 日的国家安全委员会简报会，但他已经阅读了会议纪要。

他想查明高速公路管理局（更广为人知的名称是 LLM，即马来西亚高速公路局的马来语缩写）和开发商 Prosignal Consortium Sdn Bhd 是否清楚地解释了该应用程序的用途。

“如果LLM向国家安全委员会提供的简报具有误导性，那么这件事就不应该发生，”他被引述说。

审查也落在了 Prosignal 与前 LLM 主席 Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari 的关系上，后者告诉 Malaysiakini，是他提出了这个项目，并证实该项目并非通过公开招标授予的。

哈斯尼同时也是巫统最高理事会成员，他表示LLM董事会集体批准了该项目，并强调：“这不是他一个人的决定”。

当被问及为何没有招标时，他回答说：“TuJu项目是由投资者出资的，无论是通过内部资金还是贷款”，这表明没有政府资金参与其中。

当被问及TuJu是否为LLM赚取收入时，Hasni表示他需要查看该项目的投资回报率预测。

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