Some 200,000 poorly paid civil servants who have not seen a salary review in over a decade are now demanding a salary hike.

The civil servants are from the "support category" comprising hospital attendants, drivers, gardeners and clerical and administrative staff, and receive a basic pay of RM480 monthly, the New Straits Times said.

The chair of the umbrella body for Malaysian labour unions, Omar Osman, said a memorandum would be delivered to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi next month asking for 10 to 40 percent pay rise.

He said the salaries of these lowest-paid group of civil servants had not been reviewed for 16 years.

"These workers ... are getting a basic pay of less than RM500 a month although the cost of living in cities like Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya is getting higher and higher," Omar was quoted as telling the newspaper.

Support category workers join the service with below high-school level qualifications, which Omar said prevented them from being promoted and winning higher salaries.

Malaysia defines hardcore poor as those in households earning less than 250 ringgit a month. Some 1.4 percent of Malaysia's 26.6 million population fall into this category.