The dengue outbreak has raised many interesting questions. The government has mainly blamed irresponsible households for not doing their part in cleaning up their compounds.

But I doubt this is the problem. People are no less responsible than they were 10 years ago. In fact, our rapid urbanisation over the past decades means that most 'kampung' style communities that were prone to mosquito infestation (with clogged drains and ad-hoc waste management) have been replaced by modern housing projects with reliable waste management services. Moreover, most swamp areas near the city have been filled in for development projects.

Let me suggest another possibility of why dengue cases have increased rapidly in our supposedly 'modern and clean' cities. I think the cause lies in the decline of the mosquito's natural predators.

When I was growing up, I remember the walls of my house crawling with domestic lizards (cicaks). Then, there were a variety of larger insects like dragonflies that preyed on smaller insects.

At dusk, you could see small birds crisscrossing the skies, snapping up insects. There were also more bats, toads and frogs. (One bat alone can eat up to 3,000 insects a night).

Today, development has killed off most of these animals. I can hardly find a lizard in my house these days. The only thing stopping mosquitoes are humans, and we are lousy mosquito killers. (I spent most of last night trying to kill one lone mosquito in my room without success.)

We have to think of the mosquito as part of a larger web in a complex urban ecosystem. We have to consider how different parts of this system contribute to the mosquito's life cycle and not myopically concentrate only on its breeding grounds.

I believe if we can restore a balance in the population of the mosquito's natural predators, we will see a drop in dengue cases.