Malaysia orders civil servants to stop using Waze over Israel concerns

Malaysia has banned civil servants from using Alphabet’s app Waze after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said its origins in Israel raised security concerns.

Muslim-majority Malaysia is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.

Anwar said on Tuesday that the government was looking into potential security risks arising from the use of Waze, which he said “was bound to Israeli laws.”

“We cannot compromise on the security of people’s data and identities,” he said in a post after chairing a national cybersecurity committee meeting.

Anwar did not provide any details of the risks but recommended the use of TuJu, a domestic mapping app developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority, as an alternative.

Malaysia’s Chief Secretary to the Government Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar said all civil servants would now be barred from using Waze, according to a letter dated Tuesday and addressed to the heads of government agencies.

The letter said the directive followed a decision taken at the meeting chaired by Anwar, with the prohibition to take effect immediately.

An official with the Prime Minister’s Department confirmed the letter’s authenticity.

Waze, which was founded in Israel, uses satellite signals and crowd-sourced data from drivers to offer real-time traffic information. It was acquired by Alphabet-owned Google in 2013 for $1 billion.