Civil servants with below 60 per cent performance to be placed under 'Exit Policy'

However, he said they would be given a trial period of one year to improve their performance and undergo a refresher course including counselling and motivational programs, he said.

Their services would only be terminated if they did not show an improved performance during the trial period, he said.

"Evaluation is done by their boss, so first we will put them under other bosses and see whether their performance is still below par, then we will give them some form of retraining up to one year.

"After that if they are still hopeless, then we have to take action," he said at the session with the media concerning follow-up action on the 3rd Series of the Annual Report of the Auditor-General 2014.

The 'Exit policy' is a new mechanism announced in the 11th Malaysia Plan which enables the government to terminate the services of low-performing government officials much earlier.

Ali said the circular on the policy had been issued on Nov 19 aimed at creating a high-performance civil service with integrity by terminating the services of those not meeting the standard and with little knowledge on their job and lacking discipline.

He also pointed out that the mechanism was not aimed at reducing the number of civil servants which now stood at 1.6 million in the country.

"It is to motivate the civil servants to be more productive," he said, adding that it had also been agreed to by the Congress of Union of Employeess in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) Malaysia to ensure that the people received the best service.