SINGAPORE: For the past month, stallowners at Makan Shiokz coffee shop on the ground floor of Block 49 Teban Gardens have had to watch their regular customers turn around and go home after seeing the swarms of midges plaguing the block. 

“At around 6 or 7pm, I see them walk here to buy food, and after they see the midges, they u-turn and go home,” said the coffee shop manager, who only wanted to be known as Zai. 

“They don’t even want to come here and take away food. It’s so sad. We couldn’t even do anything,” he added.  

Located adjacent to Pandan Reservoir, the coffee shop has seen a 40 per cent dip in business over the past month, said Zai. 

He told CNA that the stallowners have grown so frustrated at the swarms of midges that they decided to take the problem into their own hands. 

“First we tried electric racquets. Then we bought electrical insect traps. Then we tried glue boxes. Then these weren’t working, so we bought small fogging machines to try fogging ourselves, and now we’ve put up this net.

“Every night in August, we even used a paint brush to brush the net and the columns with oil, because it is sticky and the midges get stuck.” 

“The problem with (the coffee shop) being here, is because we are located at an angle and there is no HDB blocking us, the wind blows all the midges towards (the coffee shop),” said Zai. 

“Whenever they do the fogging, it works for the reservoir, but then the midges come to us. You can see them sticking to the second and third floors also.” 

He added: “We did email PUB asking if there’s any possibility for us to get compensation, because (the reservoir) belongs to them. But they emailed back and said no way of compensation.” According to Zai, PUB informed residents that the problem is predicted to persist until October. 

“The insects really fly into your food. It makes me uncomfortable,” said housewife and regular customer Ms Normah Johan, 53. 

Ms Normah stopped eating at Makan Shiokz for about a month, but recently started going to the coffee shop again as she observed that there has been a reduction in the swarms of midges. 

Her husband, Mr Aziz Biat, drives a lorry for work every day, and has to wash it more often because the midges stick to the vehicle after he drives around the area. 

“When it was hot in August, there were really a lot of insects flying around. Now it is a bit better,” said the 61-year-old. “Actually this is not so bad, it is just irritating. At least it is not mosquitoes, that actually can be dangerous.” 

The couple has lived at Block 24 Teban Gardens for over 20 years. While their home has yet to be invaded by midges because their block is located further away from the reservoir, the family closes all their windows and sprays insect repellent before going to bed. 

When CNA visited Teban Gardens between 4.30pm and 7pm on Thursday afternoon (Sep 5), midges were swarming above drains in large numbers, and dead midges had accumulated in crevices on walls and pillars, appearing to be dirt or dust at first glance. Standing still resulted in midges swarming around and getting into one’s eyes, mouth, nose and hair. 

At about 4.30pm, Block 31 and Blk 33 Teban Gardens, which directly face the reservoir, were washed down with water jets. And at about 6pm, PUB officers carried out fogging around the reservoir, as well as drains surrounding the blocks next to the reservoir. 

PUB said in a Facebook post on Aug 1 that it has increased the frequency of fogging and misting around the reservoir dyke and surrounding vegetation, frequency and dosage of biological liquid larvicide within the reservoir, as well as the installation of bright spotlights at the Pandan Reservoir pumping station to attract adult midges when they emerge at night.

According to PUB, the bright lights deter them from flying into residential estates. Midge egg masses attached to floating structures and rocks along the edges of the reservoir have also been removed. 

Residents and passersby were spotted wearing masks, swatting the insects away and avoiding drainage areas where huge swarms of midges were gathering. 

Mr Lim Thiam Chye, who works in a provision shop in the industrial area near Pandan Reservoir, has worn a mask and a cap to work every day since the midge emergence began in July, to prevent the insects from flying into his eyes, nose and mouth. 

“It rained the other day, and the midges disappeared for a while. A few days later, they were back and there was even more of them,” said the 57-year-old in Mandarin. 

“I don’t think the fogging has helped. The number of midges hasn’t decreased at all, and the wind is so strong, it just blows them back to the HDB area,” he added.  

After the fogging on Thursday ended, CNA observed swarms of midges returning to the drains and the surroundings just 15 to 20 minutes later. 

Resident Xavier Lopez, who has lived at Block 40 Teban Gardens for over 40 years, said the midges emergence happens most years. 

“But this is the first time it is like that. It’s been going on for more than a month, last time is at most one week. It’s probably the most insects I’ve seen,” he added. 

Mr Lopez said he closes all his windows at home, but this does not prevent midges from flying through the bathroom windows. He told CNA that dead midges accumulate on the floor, walls and mirrors, and he washes the toilet every day. He also does not turn on any lights, even at night. 

Student Zena Seah and her family have adopted similar habits, choosing to leave all windows closed at all times. They also avoid turning on the lights, as they have observed that midges swarm around their bright kitchen lights. 

Zena, who stays in Block 25 Teban Gardens, said she encounters swarms of midges in the lift when she leaves and returns from school. “I don’t even dare to open my mouth,” she said.

When she eats at the nearby hawker centres, she has also noticed midges landing on tables and chairs.

“There was once I went to the hawker centre to get food, and I saw a table full of black marks. Then the cleaning aunty wiped the table, and I realised it was all dead midges,” she added.  

But Zena said that while the midges are a nuisance, they have not affected her family’s daily routines. “We don’t really care. Even if we see them, they’ll die in one to two days anyway.” 

The current dominant midge species that has recently emerged at Pandan Reservoir is a rare one that has not been studied in great detail, said Minister for Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli in Parliament on Monday. 

The species exhibits different behaviours from other species, like hiding in drains and culverts in the day and swarm above the drains in the evening, he added.

PUB has greased drain walls to trap midges when they land to rest, and have targeted these areas for fogging, he said. It has also explored the use of free-moving oily paper within drains to increase the capture rates of adult midges. 

The netting on the reservoir dyke has also been extended by 1km, said Mr Masagos, acting as a barrier to trap adult midges and reduces the number of adult midges that would otherwise be blown to residential estates.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, MP for West Coast GRC Foo Mee Har said residents who live near Pandan Reservoir have “suffered greatly” from the mass emergence of midges since July this year.

“This year’s outbreak is the most severe we have witnessed yet and also persisted for the longest time, impacting the daily lives of our residents. Some have likened it to being in a horror movie. If you visited it’s really scary,” she added. 

READ: PUB stepping up measures to tackle emergence of rare dominant midge species at Pandan Reservoir: Masagos

READ: PUB to carry out fogging, checks as midges multiply near Pandan Reservoir

As for Zai, returning home is not an escape from the midges at work. The 46-year-old lives in a unit in the same block. 

He spends his free time looking on the Internet for solutions that might work against the midges, but has not found any other options yet. “I do not know what to do anymore. Seriously, I do not know what to do anymore,” he said. 

He added that while him and the stallowners used to paint the insect net and columns with oil by hand every night, they have since stopped doing so. 

“You can say that we’ve given up. There are just too many.”

SINGAPORE: For the past month, stallowners at Makan Shiokz coffee shop on the ground floor of Blk 49 Teban Gardens have had to watch their regular customers turn around and go home after seeing the swarms of midges plaguing the block. 

“At around 6 or 7pm, I see them walk here to buy food, and after they see the midges, they u-turn and go home,” said the coffee shop manager, who only wanted to be known as Zai. 

“They don’t even want to come here and take away food. It’s so sad. We couldn’t even do anything,” he added.  

Located adjacent to Pandan Reservoir, the coffee shop has seen a 40 per cent dip in business over the past month, said Zai. 

He told CNA that the stallowners have grown so frustrated at the swarms of midges that they decided to take the problem into their own hands. 

“First we tried electric racquets. Then we bought electrical insect traps. Then we tried glue boxes. Then these weren’t working, so we bought small fogging machines to try fogging ourselves, and now we’ve put up this net.

“Every night in August, we even used a paint brush to brush the net and the columns with oil, because it is sticky and the midges get stuck.” 

“The problem with (the coffee shop) being here, is because we are located at an angle and there is no HDB blocking us, the wind blows all the midges towards (the coffee shop),” said Zai. 

“Whenever they do the fogging, it works for the reservoir, but then the midges come to us. You can see them sticking to the second and third floors also.” 

He added: “We did email PUB asking if there’s any possibility for us to get compensation, because (the reservoir) belongs to them. But they emailed back and said no way of compensation.” According to Zai, PUB informed residents that the problem is predicted to persist until October. 

“The insects really fly into your food. It makes me uncomfortable,” said housewife and regular customer Ms Normah Johan, 53. 

Ms Normah stopped eating at Makan Shiokz for about a month, but recently started going to the coffee shop again as she observed that there has been a reduction in the swarms of midges. 

Her husband, Mr Aziz Biat, drives a lorry for work every day, and has to wash it more often because the midges stick to the vehicle after he drives around the area. 

“When it was hot in August, there were really a lot of insects flying around. Now it is a bit better,” said the 61-year-old. “Actually this is not so bad, it is just irritating. At least it is not mosquitoes, that actually can be dangerous.” 

The couple has lived at Blk 24 Teban Gardens for over 20 years. While their home has yet to be invaded by midges because their block is located further away from the reservoir, the family closes all their windows and sprays insect repellent before going to bed. 

When CNA visited Teban Gardens between 4.30pm and 7pm on Thursday afternoon (Sep 5), midges were swarming above drains in large numbers, and dead midges had accumulated in crevices on walls and pillars, appearing to be dirt or dust at first glance. Standing still resulted in midges swarming around and getting into one’s eyes, mouth, nose and hair. 

At about 4.30pm, Blk 31 and Blk 33 Teban Gardens, which directly face the reservoir, were washed down with water jets. And at about 6pm, PUB officers carried out fogging around the reservoir, as well as drains surrounding the blocks next to the reservoir. 

PUB said in a Facebook post on Aug 1 that it has increased the frequency of fogging and misting around the reservoir dyke and surrounding vegetation, frequency and dosage of biological liquid larvicide within the reservoir, as well as the installation of bright spotlights at the Pandan Reservoir pumping station to attract adult midges when they emerge at night.

According to PUB, the bright lights deter them from flying into residential estates. Midge egg masses attached to floating structures and rocks along the edges of the reservoir have also been removed. 

Residents and passersby were spotted wearing masks, swatting the insects away and avoiding drainage areas where huge swarms of midges were gathering. 

Mr Lim Thiam Chye, who works in a provision shop in the industrial area near Pandan Reservoir, has worn a mask and a cap to work every day since the midge emergence began in July, to prevent the insects from flying into his eyes, nose and mouth. 

“It rained the other day, and the midges disappeared for a while. A few days later, they were back and there was even more of them,” said the 57-year-old in Mandarin. 

“I don’t think the fogging has helped. The number of midges hasn’t decreased at all, and the wind is so strong, it just blows them back to the HDB area,” he added.  

After the fogging on Thursday ended, CNA observed swarms of midges returning to the drains and the surroundings just 15 to 20 minutes later. 

Resident Xavier Lopez, who has lived at Blk 40 Teban Gardens for over 40 years, said the midges emergence happens most years. 

“But this is the first time it is like that. It’s been going on for more than a month, last time is at most one week. It’s probably the most insects I’ve seen,” he added. 

Mr Lopez said he closes all his windows at home, but this does not prevent midges from flying through the bathroom windows. He told CNA that dead midges accumulate on the floor, walls and mirrors, and he washes the toilet every day. He also does not turn on any lights, even at night. 

Student Zena Seah and her family have adopted similar habits, choosing to leave all windows closed at all times. They also avoid turning on the lights, as they have observed that midges swarm around their bright kitchen lights. 

Zena, who stays in Blk 25 Teban Gardens, said she encounters swarms of midges in the lift when she leaves and returns from school. “I don’t even dare to open my mouth,” she said.

When she eats at the nearby hawker centres, she has also noticed midges landing on tables and chairs.

“There was once I went to the hawker centre to get food, and I saw a table full of black marks. Then the cleaning aunty wiped the table, and I realised it was all dead midges,” she added.  

But Zena said that while the midges are a nuisance, they have not affected her family’s daily routines. “We don’t really care. Even if we see them, they’ll die in one to two days anyway.” 

The current dominant midge species that has recently emerged at Pandan Reservoir is a rare one that has not been studied in great detail, said Minister for Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli in Parliament on Monday. 

The species exhibits different behaviours from other species, like hiding in drains and culverts in the day and swarm above the drains in the evening, he added.

PUB has greased drain walls to trap midges when they land to rest, and have targeted these areas for fogging, he said. It has also explored the use of free-moving oily paper within drains to increase the capture rates of adult midges. 

The netting on the reservoir dyke has also been extended by 1km, said Mr Masagos, acting as a barrier to trap adult midges and reduces the number of adult midges that would otherwise be blown to residential estates.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, MP for West Coast GRC Foo Mee Har said residents who live near Pandan Reservoir have “suffered greatly” from the mass emergence of midges since July this year.

“This year’s outbreak is the most severe we have witnessed yet and also persisted for the longest time, impacting the daily lives of our residents. Some have likened it to being in a horror movie. If you visited it’s really scary,” she added. 

READ: PUB stepping up measures to tackle emergence of rare dominant midge species at Pandan Reservoir: Masagos

READ: PUB to carry out fogging, checks as midges multiply near Pandan Reservoir

As for Zai, returning home is not an escape from the midges at work. The 46-year-old lives in a unit in the same block. 

He spends his free time looking on the Internet for solutions that might work against the midges, but has not found any other options yet. “I do not know what to do anymore. Seriously, I do not know what to do anymore,” he said. 

He added that while him and the stallowners used to paint the insect net and columns with oil by hand every night, they have since stopped doing so. 

“You can say that we’ve given up. There are just too many.”

WASHINGTON DC: “Are the days of Wong Peng Soon back?” was the curious cry of many Singaporeans after 20-year-old Yeo Jia Min shocked the World No. 1, Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, in the second round of the 2019 Badminton World Federation World Championships.

While it is premature to conclude from this big upset of hers, there is one thing the nation can be absolutely certain of: We love a David versus Goliath underdog sports story. 

And probably more than most other nations, too.

THE MAKING OF THE UNDERDOG

When Singapore-born-and-bred Joseph Schooling won Singapore’s first Olympic gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the ecstasy that engulfed the nation was multi-layered.

Many Singaporeans empathise with the financial and personal sacrifices of Joseph’s parents, Colin and May Schooling. Joseph Schooling was 21 when he stood on top of the Olympic podium, but it took a journey of at least 15 years to get there.

It was a massive gamble to send young Joseph to the United States on his own to train with and go up against some of the world’s best for a shot at Olympic glory.

The enormity of what he achieved was artfully captured in an unprecedented three-way silver medal tie between Michael Phelps (US), Chad Le Clos (South Africa) and Laszlo Cseh (Hungary). 

Goliath(s) fell.

The odds-defying triumph rekindled hopes of another win on the world sporting stage in the hearts of Singaporeans. Yet, why are we not seeing more of these gritty world-beaters in Singapore sports?

THE CURIOUS CASE OF SINGAPORE BADMINTON

Singapore has chosen to rely on the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme rather heavily for what is often widely perceived as a quick medal-fix for Singapore sports on the global sporting stage.

The scheme most notably yielded a table tennis silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It was Singapore’s first Olympic medal since Tan Howe Liang’s weightlifting silver at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games. Yet it sparked more debate than cheer.

Table tennis and badminton were the two sports that leaned heavily on the Foreign Talent Scheme but the scheme in badminton was completely abandoned by Rio 2016.

Turning to the Foreign Talent Scheme for badminton has always been a controversial move. It was a vision that the ever-vibrant badminton community in Singapore never quite caught on to as well.

At the grassroots level, the appetite for the sport is evident from community centres to the exuberant school sports badminton scene (at least in the 1990s to 2000s), where the former local greats from Wong Shoon Keat, Irene Wong, Hamid Khan to Wee Choon Seng have all dedicated their lives to coaching in local schools.

Stepping into Wong Shoon Keat’s little shop at the former Singapore Badminton Hall on Guillemard Road always served up a dose of inspiration for young local shuttlers to believe he or she too could win a coveted SEA Games gold medal as Mr Wong did in 1983.

And perhaps, more.

After all, before China started gaining a stronghold in the international badminton scene, during the days of Wong Peng Soon, Southeast Asian nations were (and still are) a force to reckon with in the sport.

READ: Commentary: No need to be ‘sorry’ Lee Chong Wei, with so much to be proud of

READ: Commentary: Lee Chong Wei, the prince of badminton not destined for the throne

CURRENTLY TRENDING: UNCOMMON GIANT SLAYERS OF BADMINTON

The Chinese women, in particular, cemented an indestructible status in the sport from the turn of the 21st century. Winning consecutive Uber Cups, World Championships and Olympic gold medals, an all-Chinese women’s singles final was also the usual order of the day at major badminton events.

But today, that Great Wall of China in women’s badminton is but convincingly dismantled.

The World Championship’s women’s singles gold medal has now eluded China for six consecutive years. At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, China went home empty-handed in the women’s singles event – a sight that would be unthinkable a decade ago.

It was the result of a consistent effort by a group of “Chinese-slayers” in women’s singles hailing from all around the world: Spain, Thailand, India and Japan.

Born between 1993 and 1995, they each hold a unique style of play, which brought a refreshing revitalisation in women’s badminton. The absence of a deep history or support for badminton in many of their nations also turned them into inspiring trailblazers.

The most remarkable unifying factor in this group of players is their emergence as a teenage “protégé”, with each carrying an uncommon story.

Carolina Marin (2014, 2015, 2018 World Champion) is from Huelva, a small town in Spain of barely 150,000 inhabitants. She was dancing flamenco as a child before she decided to play badminton seriously when coach Fernando Rivas spotted her at 14, and then nurtured her into Spain’s first World Champion in badminton by 21.

In Thailand, Ratchanok Intanon grew up in a sweets factory in a small Thai province. She became Thailand’s first and the youngest World Champion at 18 back in 2013, and is still a definite medal contender at next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.

Badminton legends South Korean Park Joo-bong and India’s Puella Gopichand are known to have raised the standards of badminton in Japan and India respectively. 

As former successful players they became innovative coaches with a good personal touch, and took the sport to another level in their countries.

READ: Badminton: Singapore’s Yeo wins women’s title at Hyderabad Open, compatriot Loh finishes runner-up in men’s singles

They developed their teenage protégés into historic World Champions for their nations – Nozomi Okuhara (in 2017) and P V Sindhu (in 2019). 

TOO LATE, TOO LITTLE FOR YEO?

Where does that leave Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min?

For the discerning fans of badminton, Yeo’s recent emergence no longer comes as a “shocker”. The badminton women’s singles event is anybody’s game in this day.

And for Yeo, there is a lot of catching up to do to threaten the current class of giant slayers. The 20-year-old was defeated by Intanon 17-21, 11-21 in the quarterfinals.

There is also a long way to go before Singapore badminton can reach those remarkable heights set by Wong Peng Soon during the country’s pre-independence era.

Perhaps what Singapore needs to ask then is this: If they can do it, why not us?

READ: Badminton: Singapore’s next generation of shuttlers tipped to be ‘world class’

In badminton, despite deep benches in China and Indonesia, Denmark with a population of just over 5 million inhabitants is longstanding proof that a nation does not need a huge population or a deep talent pool to develop a world champion or build a world champion team. (They have successfully done both in badminton.)

And there could still be late bloomers, too.

Retired Dane, Tine Baun, is a great case in point where she was often the only real threat to China’s women’s singles dominance when she was in her late-twenties.

All of these require an unyielding dedication and commitment from their national governing bodies in nurturing and developing talent from their own backyard, despite the odds.

And like the Schoolings, a persistent belief in a giant-slaying sporting future for their child, and to just take the risk.

There is no short cut. And if not now, when?

Jan Lin Lee was formerly Press Officer at the Badminton World Federation before joining the Olympic Channel as Commissioning Editor of Originals and branded content. She is now a Sports Film and Documentaries Producer based in the US