SHAH ALAM, Dec 5 — The government will examine complaints that 52 participants were culled from a course preparing them to be Administration and Diplomatic Officers (PTD), Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

He said his administration does not intend for its cost-cutting drive to negatively affect anyone directly.

"We will look into this. We do not want anyone to be a victim in our efforts to reduce the country’s expenditures,” he told reporters when met after launching the Union of Pos Malaysia Uniformed Staff (UPUS) conference, here, today.

On Sunday, an anonymous revealed that fours of the were now jobless while the remaining 48 civil servants were sent back to their old postings.

The termination took place after the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) and Public Service Department (PSD) increased the passing grade for the Diploma in Public Administration Postgraduate programme from grade B to A-.

Those dropped from the 10-month course include 31 women and 21 men; five are PhD holders and another 20 have degrees.