Every year during festive and religious occasions, many people visit the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery to pay their respects to their dead relatives.

We have been visiting the grave of my father-in-law at the Choa Chu Kang Christian Lawn cemetery since he died more than 20 years ago. Our family has also arranged for a caretaker to maintain the burial plot and trim the grass regularly.

However, not all families are similarly motivated or have the means or the time to do so. 

With each passing year, more grave plots would be neglected and covered with weeds.

As the regulator of cemeteries and burial grounds, the National Environment Agency (NEA) should look into such neglected graves, and contact the families of the deceased to inquire if the remains should be exhumed and cremated. 

NEA should also improve the common areas of the cemetery, which do not seem to have been regularly maintained. The grounds are overgrown with weeds or waterlogged during wet weather, making a trip to the cemetery an unpleasant experience as visitors have to make their way through wet and muddy areas. 

Visitors also risk being bitten by mosquitoes and other insects, and falling ill.

The mark of a gracious society is what we do not only for the living, but also for those who have passed on, by making sure they rest in peace on grounds that are regularly maintained and tended.

Winston Chew Choon Teck