An Umno lawmaker has criticised DAP MP Tony Pua for the negative remarks on the civil service, which the latter claimed was bloated and a financial burden.

Pendang MP Othman Abdul said Pua did not recognise and appreciate the hard work of civil servants, who form the backbone of the government.

According to him, this is not the first time that opposition leaders, especially those from DAP, have made negative comments regarding the civil service.

“In the past, there was an opposition leader who described civil servants as ‘kucing kurap’.

“I am not sure if such remarks stem from the racist sentiment of certain quarters who might view the percentage of civil servants in the country as being majority Malays.

“However, such statements show that the opposition does not appreciate the contribution and sacrifice of civil servants who toiled to develop the nation,” he told Umno Online.

Late last month, Pua told a forum in Kuala Lumpur that said that cutting down the size of the civil service could be counterproductive.

He said that shrinking the public sector will likely upset the entire civil service and paralyse the government's operations.

“Say, if you want to retrench five percent of the civil servants, the rest 95 percent would not cooperate with you, and it (the cut) will not be a realistic move.

“We call it deadweight, which you have to bear with,” he told a forum in Mandarin titled Analysing Budget 2017.

Meanwhile, Othman said the civil service is the government arm which implements official policies and the number of civil servants is appropriate with the number of policies to be implemented.

“The government today appreciates the contributions and sacrifices of the civil service and this is why in Budget 2017, civil servants who are on a contract basis had their contracts renewed until next year.

“This shows the BN government appreciates their contribution and provides numerous incentives for them and this is different from the opposition which only mock and insult the civil servants,” he added.