KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) has mounted a staunch defence of its partnership with Prosignal Consortium Sdn Bhd, batting away allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest surrounding the contentious, non-tendered development of the TuJu navigation app.
LLM chairman Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad dismissed suggestions that the project was unilaterally pushed through by his predecessor, Selat Klang assemblyman Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari, who initiated the collaboration before stepping down.
“I mean, the idea was presented during his tenure as chairman and agreed upon by the board. This means many parties were involved. It was not his decision alone,” Hasni said, as reported by Malaysiakini.
Brushing aside mounting public scrutiny over the lack of an open tender, Hasni asserted that the procurement bypass was fully justified because the endeavour carries zero burden on public coffers.
“TuJu is funded by investors in the project, whether through internal funds or borrowings. Therefore, if anyone asks why it was not awarded through open tender, the answer is that no government funds are involved. Furthermore, LLM always complies with financial regulations,” he added, noting that LLM remains open to formally briefing the Cabinet on the arrangement if summoned.
The partnership—first formalised via a Memorandum of Understanding in May 2022 under Rashid’s tenure and extended late last year—has come under fierce scrutiny after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim heavily promoted the homegrown app as a national security alternative to Israeli-linked Waze.
However, Hasni clarified that TuJu was never conceived to take on global navigation giants, but was built strictly as a dedicated traffic management and emergency tool for tolled expressways.
“It is not a navigation (app) like Waze. We only collaborated to improve our traffic management centre,” Hasni stated, explaining that its key role is to provide real-time updates on rest stops, enforcement cameras, and emergency hotlines.
The sudden push for civil servants and motorists to migrate to TuJu triggered widespread technical glitches and functional shortcomings, prompting Anwar to concede that the software remains incomplete while maintaining national security reservations over Waze.
Hasni acknowledged concerns over how TuJu was originally pitched to the National Security Council (MKN), particularly after LLM’s highway safety scope became conflated with broader geopolitical intelligence matters.
“If the briefing presented by LLM to MKN was misleading, it should not have happened. If that truly occurred, I am of the view that it is not something to be taken lightly,” Hasni said, disclosing that he must verify whether both LLM and Prosignal accurately portrayed the app’s actual capabilities during the high-level meeting.
While Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil and Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo have since walked back the pressure by clarifying that TuJu is not mandatory, Hasni confirmed that the prime minister has directly instructed him to upgrade the app’s performance moving forward. – October 27, 2026