Mandarin will help improve police force, says MCPF

PETALING Encouraging police officers to learn Mandarin is a step in the right direction as it serves many advantages to the force, said the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF).

Its senior vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said not only would this improve the policemen’s communication skills, the force would also be brought closer to the Chinese community.

“MCPF fully supports the move to encourage police officers to learn Mandarin as it will help improve their soft skills and means of communication in our multiracial and multilingual society.

“MCPF has been consistent in advocating the need to improve the service of the police force, including through better communication skills that could be enhanced by learning other languages,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Lee said the increasing importance of the Chinese language should prompt the police and other agencies to encourage their staff to learn it.

“Knowing an additional language is an asset not only to the police but all Malaysians,” he said.

He also said the foundation supported the police plan to set up a language centre to offer courses on Mandarin and other languages, especially English.

It was reported that plans were under way to set up a language centre at the Royal Malaysian Police College of Kuala Lumpur to offer courses on Mandarin and other languages.

In an interview with Sin Chew Daily, the college’s commandant Deputy Comm Datuk Yong Lei Choo said it currently has a two-week course on Mandarin for non-Chinese officers to learn simple conversational phrases.

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