I WANTED to give my nephew a lesson on Singapore's wildlife over the weekend by taking him to the Geylang Serai Temporary Market.
To young city dwellers like him who are more familiar with rodents like Mickey and Minnie, I reckoned that it would be the perfect opportunity for him to learn about rats.
After all , the latest spring-cleaning there netted 122 rats in two days.
That is cold comfort for the 154 people who had been given medical treatment after eating at the market's popular Indian-rojak stall.
In a country renowned for its efficiency and cleanliness, this should never have happened.
In the words of Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, what had happened was "totally unacceptable".
"What has happened is totally unacceptable. As far as I am concerned, it's outrageous that this has happened, and we must make sure it doesn't happen again," he said, explaining that thousands of Singaporeans depend on hawker fare for their daily meals.
Make no mistake, the food-poisoning incident should not be confused with the cleanliness of the market. Neither are the rats responsible for what happened.
We are. We have fostered a prevalent mentality that good food is all that matters, never mind if the hawkers' cleanliness ratings are just satisfactory or poor.
This encourages the thinking that if the food is tasty, hygiene be damned.
However, it is appalling that there are so many rats sharing a place where thousands of Singaporeans throng for food every day.
To their credit, both the authorities and the management of the market did what they could to rein in the rodents - even though the National Environment Agency (NEA) was not directly responsible for hygiene at temporary markets.
But the question is, does it go far enough?
The rat problem at the temporary market had been well-documented since it opened in March three years ago.
In January last year, an inspection by the NEA found signs of infestation and it told the market's management committee to step up efforts to curb the problem.
The situation improved - but the rodents were back within two months.
In February this year, rat burrows resurfaced in the area.
Between October last year and January this year, the market also went through two large-scale spring-cleaning exercises.
Now, it turns out that 79 out of 82 hawker stalls in the market were rated "C" in the latest cleanliness-rating exercise in December last year.
An NEA spokesman told the Chinese daily, Lianhe Zaobao, that 19 hawkers among the 79 had previously held a "B" grade.
Perhaps it is time for diners - not hawkers - to change their mindset. Hygiene and cleanliness do matter and, to drive home that point, diners should hit hawkers where it hurts - in their pockets.
Avoid stalls with poor ratings like the plague, pun unintended.
Take a "C" rating to mean "Can't eat" and a "D" rating to be "Don't eat".
Hopefully, sooner rather than later, the hawkers will get the picture.
