KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — Former deputy home minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed criticised the government today for releasing contractual public workers ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

He accused the government of lacking compassion and humanity in the move, saying it would also affect workers’ families.

"We sympathise with the victims of terminated service contracts as they are actually innocent and only doing their duties,” he said in a statement.

"The terminations were done imprudently and reveals the true attitude of the Pakatan Harapan government.”

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said his administration will reduce the number of portfolios without causing redundancies in the civil service.