CYBERJAYA: Civil servants who defy the ban on navigation app Waze could face disciplinary action, says the National Security Council.
Its director-general, Datuk Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin, said department heads would oversee compliance with the directive, issued through a circular dated Oct 20 by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar.
"The directive takes effect immediately. Its implementation will generally be left to individual department heads.
"Any breach of a directive issued by the Chief Secretary to the Government carries disciplinary implications,” he told a briefing on national security issues here on Thursday (Oct 22).
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Raja Nushirwan therefore urged civil servants to stop using Waze immediately to prevent external parties from exploiting their movement data.
He said the government had adopted a phased approach, prioritising public education while balancing national data security concerns with individual freedoms.
Rather than imposing an outright ban on the public, the government urged Malaysians to understand the security risks and make informed choices.
"We must always balance security concerns with human rights, freedom of expression and freedom of choice.
"Under this approach, we leave it to Malaysians to make their own decisions,” he explained.
Raja Nushirwan said the government would periodically assess the effectiveness of the approach before deciding whether further measures were necessary.
He cautioned that an immediate nationwide ban on Waze could send a negative signal to application developers and the broader information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
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Meanwhile, Raja Nushirwan also encouraged Malaysians to uninstall Waze and switch to local alternatives such as TuJu, developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM).
The government announced a ban on Waze use by all civil servants, citing concerns over the potential misuse of government information and users' personal data by the Israeli regime.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the decision took into account Waze Mobile Ltd's status as a user data controller incorporated and operating under Israeli law.
He also urged Malaysians to reduce their reliance on the app to strengthen personal data protection.
A study conducted by the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) on Aug 1 also identified the potential misuse of Malaysians’ location data and daily movement patterns by external parties.
Nacsa chief executive Dr Megat Zuhairy Megat Tajuddin said advances in artificial intelligence (AI) could heighten the risks if such data fell into the wrong hands. – Bernama
