PUTRAJAYA — Malaysians are free to use any navigation application other than Waze, including alternatives developed locally or overseas, Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said today.

He said the government was not directing the public towards a single alternative amid concerns over Waze’s data security and ongoing efforts to improve the locally developed TuJu application.

“The government encourages the use of various applications. There are various alternatives, both locally developed and those from overseas.

“What is important is that Waze is not used, due to security concerns that have been communicated by the National Security Council,” he said at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference here.

“We are not directing everyone towards a single application. People can use various alternative navigation applications other than Waze,” he added.

Fahmi said the concerns over Waze were based on feedback from the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa), which was conveyed to the National Security Council (MKN) and subsequently discussed by the National Cyber Security Committee (JKSN).

He said two key issues had been raised: the transfer of data collected and processed through the application to Israel, and the fact that any legal disputes would have to be handled through Israeli courts.

“Any legal disputes would be handled exclusively through the courts in Israel. This means that if any issues arise, we would not be able to pursue them there because Malaysia does not recognise Israel and has no diplomatic relations with it,” he said.