It is not the opposition but the Barisan Nasional government that plans to trim the number of civil servants by 29,000 by next year, says Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.

In a tit-for-tat, Pua noted that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had at the Malaysian Islamic Missionary and Welfare Association (Pekida) gathering recently accused the opposition of wanting to "halve the civil service", which is majority Malay.

azlan "Najib has proven himself to be a hypocrite of the highest degree, for two days after his speech, the Public Services Department (PSD) under the Prime Minister's Office announced 29,000 redundancies in the civil service," Pua said

"It is Umno that is culling the civil service today and yet it has the cheek to claim that Pakatan Rakyat and I are racists.

"Najib has taken an extreme racist position in this matter, together with other aspects of his speech, which pit Malays against non-Malays. Najib and Umno leaders are political opportunists in portraying Pakatan as anti-civil service."

'Najib fight to retain power at all costs'

Pua, who is also DAP national publicity secretary, said Najib was fighting to retain power at all costs, even if it meant spreading vicious lies and even signing the death warrant for his 1Malaysia policy.

Najib had, in his is Umno presidential address , accused the opposition of wanting to remove half of the civil servants in service.

Pua denied that there was any such proposal from Pakatan Rakyat to reduce the civil service.

He said he was merely replying to questions from an audience at a forum on whether Pakatan considered early optional retirement and the dismissal of those who had breached discipline and regulations, such as those who purchased binoculars costing RM1,940 for RM56,350, as ways to reduce civil service.

"I had even emphasised that drastic measures were out of the question because we would need the cooperation of the civil service to govern effectively, should Pakatan take power in the next general election," he said.

The PSD announced yesterday that under a new civil service scheme, "Saraan Baru Perkhidmatan Awam (SBPA)", those who registered 70 points or less for their performance would be given warnings.

And if their performance did not improve in the next six months, these civil servants would be given the boot.