Consult experts before banning Waze, DAP’s Yeo urges govt

Former minister Yeo Bee Yin has urged the Malaysian government to seek expert advice before deciding to ban the popular navigation app Waze. The DAP publicity secretary emphasized that such a decision should not be made hastily, as it would impact six million Malaysian road users who rely on Waze for their livelihoods, daily commutes, or logistics.

Yeo noted that nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which are in close proximity to the conflict and have strict national security protocols, have not banned Waze either. She questioned why Malaysia, which shares similar concerns over the app's Israeli origins, has not taken a similar stance. Yeo suggested that a ban could cause public disruption, economic friction for the gig economy, and damage Malaysia's digital reputation.

She called on the National Security Council (MKN) to consult industry experts, navigation technology specialists, and relevant stakeholders before deciding on the next steps. Yeo also inquired whether the Malaysian government had engaged Waze's US-based parent company, Alphabet, to explore the possibility of hosting Malaysian data on local servers instead of outright banning the app.

While acknowledging that alternatives like Google Maps exist, Yeo pointed out that many commuters use multiple navigation apps to optimally plan their journeys. She criticized the suggestion of using TuJu as a Waze replacement, pointing out the impracticality of expecting a government agency like the Malaysian Highway Authority to build, optimize, and maintain a crowd-sourced navigation platform comparable to global tech giants.

Yeo highlighted that even in South Korea, where restrictions on offshore hosting for Google Maps and Waze exist, viable local alternatives like Naver Map and KakaoMap were developed and scaled by multi-billion-dollar domestic tech conglomerates, not government agencies.