WHY THERE IS NO M OSQUITOES IN SINGAPORE?

 Why are there no mosquitoes in Singapore?

Singapore, dubbed the Garden City, with more than 2-million trees, making the country look more like a city in a large park, it’s for Singaporeans and other residents to enjoy lush greenery. The best part is with fewer mosquitoes to bother you... it's a miracle, so to speak.

Do you want to know a secret? The secret of why Singapore has no mosquitoes or fewer mosquitoes, whereas across the causeway a stone's throw from the Woodlands satellite town area, would be a world of difference in Johore Bahru, I am talking about MOSQUITOES, a little insect that kills.

• Let me relate to you my experience learned the hard way.

On Saturday morning, a man rang a bell at my front gate, he said with a warm smile: "We are inspecting the houses in this area and teaching you how to prevent mosquitoes' breeding."

I saw a lapel card on him and noticed that he was from the M.of Environment and he carried a big spoon look like the one my wife used to take a soup when cooking. I let him in and went around with him.

He scooped that spoon into the open drain and looked at it, and inspected every potted plant I had, it's without the terra-cotta plates and I knew, having the plates would attract mosquitoes' breeding.

He stopped at a canvas covering my son's bicycle, with a laser eye, he noticed something moved in a small pool of water on the canvas, he dug into the bag and took out a small pump, similar to what my son used for his painting and dipped into that pool of water and put that into a bottle. I asked, "What was that?" He answered. "It's just for routine testing." and left.

You know what? a few days later I received a fine in the mail for S$200 fine for Mosquitoes Breeding and the letter stating the date and time of the offense and the description of "Mosquitoes' breeding as a larva was found."

I called CHOO, my contractor friend and asked if I have a ground to waive it as this was the first offense, Choo said, " You got the letter, means no way to bargain, want to do it, must talk that day when the man found that larvae... I just got $1,000 fine for mosquito breeding last week at my job site... Just pay lah."

That was many years ago when I lived in a house with a compound in Singapore and those men would take the turn to ring a bell non-stop.

In fact, I complained about the fine to another person who came the following month. He said, "That officer was too zealous, I won't do that, I will tell you to be careful of the stagnant water." How nice was he?

Singapore is a fine country and there is no wonder that-NO mosquitoes in Singapore.