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 ca...