PASIR PUTEH, Feb 23 — Kelantan Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) has called on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to review the proposal on reducing the number of civil servants, in order to protect the interests of the Malays and Bumiputera community.

Its chairman Datuk Kamaruddin Mohd Nor said the proposal should be studied in detail, considering several factors, one of them being the rise in population.

“In addition, the most number of civil servants come from the Malay community, and this needs to be given priority,” he told reporters after officiating the Annual General Meeting of the Pasir Puteh branch of the Malaysian Government Pensioners’ Association.

Last Thursday, Dr Mahathir was repor ated as saying that the number of active civil servants now was 1.7 million people, a steep increase from the one million who were in service when he first stepped down as premier in 2003.

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Kamaruddin said that if civil servants were laid off,  athey would lose their income, and one of Bersatu’s main struggles was to defend the fate of the Malays and the Bumiputera community. — Bernama