Vital for police to be proficient in languages, says Lam Thye
SIBU: Being proficient in languages, including English, will enhance the ability of police officers to fight crime, especially trans-boundary crime, Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation ( MCPF) senior vice- chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye opines.
He said it is timely for members of the police force and other agencies to polish their command of English and if possible, learn another language that is widely used such as Spanish and Chinese.
“With good grasp of English, senior civil servants will be able to communicate effectively at the global level, particularly with their counterparts from other countries,” he said in a media statement released here yesterday.
Lee said a reporter had recently asked him to comment on the decision made by the police to polish up English in the force especially among their senior officers.
“The reporter claimed that some groups had protested the move as they alleged that the police force is sacrificing the use of the national language.
“I must say that I am perplexed by the brouhaha on the issue since mastering more than one language is something beneficial to the individuals and logically should not be made an issue,” Lee said.
He noted that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had recently called on senior civil servants to improve their command of the English language.
Inspector- General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun, who welcomed the prime minister’s directive, was quoted as saying that the police had already conducted such courses in the past.
“Efforts taken by Mohamad Fuzi and his team to improve their command of English must be emulated by other agencies in line with the prime minister’s directive for senior civil servants to master the language,” Lee added.
He observed that the World Economic Forum, using a database of languages known as Ethnologue, had revealed that Mandarin ( Chinese), Spanish and English were spoken among more than two billion people last year.
Mandarin topped the Top 10 chart at 1.3 billion users followed by Spanish (437 million), English (372 million), Arabic (295 million), Hindi ( 260 million), Bengali ( 242 million), Portuguese (219 million), Russian (154 million), Japanese (128 million) and Lahnda (119 million).
“I believe that our dream to become a developed nation could be achieved earlier if the people are willing to learn more
With good grasp of English, senior civil servants will be able to communicate effectively at the global level, particularly with their counterparts from other countries. Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, MCPF senior vicechairman
languages while at the same time strengthening their command of Bahasa Malaysia which is the national language.
“No one should question the position of Bahasa Malaysia as our official language and every Malaysian citizen must master the national language so that they could speak, read and write it well.
“This is in line with the government’s initiative to ‘ Memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu, Memperkasakan Bahasa Inggeris’ ( Uphold Bahasa Melayu, Strengthen the English Language) at all levels, starting from the primary schools,” Lee stressed.
He pointed out that at the same time, any effort to help strengthen the English language should not be perceived as a step to sideline Bahasa Malaysia.
“Bahasa Malaysia will always be the language that unites Malaysians as history has shown it was the lingua franca for the people of various ethnicities in the country for so long,” he said.
He also mentioned that for those who are concerned about the fate of Bahasa Malaysia, it is time for them to do something against the use of ‘ bahasa rojak’ or Bahasa Malaysia mixed with other languages, especially English.
“Apart from Bahasa Malaysia and English, I am confident that Malaysians could and should master at least another language for their own benefit,” Lee reiterated.