Allow me to inform you how the authorities at the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) deal with the mosquito situation.

In July last year, there was a sudden deluge of this vector (as they call it) in my area in USJ Subang. I took the trouble like a good citizen to report to it to the MPSJ desk.

I was made to fill a form and during that time another resident in another part of USJ also came in to report the same problem of unusual mosquito infestation in our houses.

You know what response I got after a week? I received a standard reply letter informing me that there is no dengue in my location hence nothing needs to be done. Period.

I thought the basic thing they could have done was to come and fog the area when a complaint has been made. Or are we lay people supposed to catch and identify the presence of dengue mosquitoes in our home before we make a report?

Doesn't this reflect the attitude of the officials concerned? They are supposed to control this kind of situation as part of their responsibilities. When officials take that attitude, what can you expect of the public in this crisis?

The amount of education through the various media and recently a professor's recommendation to tackle the problem at the initial diagnostic stage is worth considering and worth all the money allocated for such a programme.

But again public behaviour is always a big nut to crack as most people are ambivalent until an ‘incident’ hits them directly (like security and safety issues).

I have a proposal here which aims at creating more awareness and fear (a little only) of dengue in a more direct way.

In most cases of dengue, although doctors are supposed to report them to the local council, the message stops at that point, ie, at the council.

My proposal is that once a case has been established at a certain area, the local council officials shall go to that area and put up a sign that saying there is a case of dengue in that area so that neighbours are informed officially.

Surely, the residents will be more aware and check their own surroundings more carefully and urgently from then on.

Currently, I may not even know if my neighbour is afflicted with dengue. In order to make the situation more urgent, make it the the duty of the staff of the local council to go down to that location within a 30 to 60 metre radius to check for breeding grounds.

If any are found in a house compund, the resident should be penalised with a fine. I am sure with such an awareness campaign created, there will be less dengue in this country. The people and the local councils must work harder to eliminate this vector disease.