PENANG: Policemen who take basic Hokkien dialect course is going to learn Hokkien “dirty words”, so that they know if the public are swearing at them.

During the class opening ceremony Saturday (18 Oct), lecturer Ye Yin Ni encouraged policemen to learn Hokkien for better communication between the police and the people.

When being asked whether they are going to learn Hokkien dirty words, she said certainly dirty words are included in their syllabus. She stressed that it is not meant to encourage policemen to use the words but it is to avoid them being bullied by pranksters.

This is the second time for the Penang police to have a basic Hokkien dialect course. The first batch of 30 policemen already completed the course recently.

State police Chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob said that policemen who take the lesson will not be given any allowance as the course is already free of charge. (Sin Chew Daily)