The Penang government and its think-tank Penang Institute today denied endorsing the idea that the number of civil servants in Malaysia ought to be reduced to 430,000 people.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng the study by the Penang Institute which mooted this suggestion was never tabled to the state government.

"This is untrue. If it had come from the Penang Institute, these are merely comments by independent parties but had not been adopted or tabled to the state government.

"So the state government has no such stance," he told a press conference at the Parliament complex today.

Lim was responding to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s statement yesterday reportedly claiming that the federal opposition had made statements that hurt the feelings of civil servants.

Bernama quoted him saying that among these were that in 2016, the Penang Institute had performed an analysis of the 2017 Budget Proposal, and concluded that the size of Malaysia’s civil service ought to be 430,000 people.

"This means that 1.2 million civil servants would lose their jobs and a means of livelihood," Najib said.

Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari, who was the Penang Institute executive director at the time the analysis was made, told today's press conference that the statement came from a group of researchers.

"At the Penang Institute, we allow for academic freedom. We don't censor or prevent our researchers from voicing any academic opinion.

"But that does not necessarily mean that it would become the state or Penang Institute policy. It is the independent opinion of the researchers," he said.

He added that the researchers' conclusions had also been taken out of context.

What the researchers actually said was that if Malaysia had as many civil servants as Germany, then Malaysia would only need 430,000 if the figure is adjusted for Malaysia's smaller economy, said Zairil.

"If we were to follow the original statement, we merely used a formula based on Germany which as we all know is different from Malaysia but if the formula is applied, that's the figure we'd get," he said.

Penang Institute board member Steven Sim said despite the Penang Institute researchers' conclusions, the size of the Penang civil service had, in fact, grown.

Moreover, they are better treated and enjoy perks such as free buses and childcare centres at Komtar and higher bonuses.

He said it is Najib who belittles the civil service and not the federal opposition because Najib supposedly treats the civil service as a pawn in his election strategy.