How butterfly book became reality

... And the role the late Mrs Lee Kuan Yew played
Neo Chai Chin Today Online 14 Oct 10;

SINGAPORE - It began with a casual email exchange with Temasek Holdings executive director and chief executive Ho Ching. Now, butterfly enthusiast Khew Sin Khoon's dream has borne fruit, a dream the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo had a role in, albeit indirectly.

In late 2006, Mr Khew had shared with Ms Ho how she could grow certain plants to attract butterflies to her garden.

Ms Ho then offered to lend a helping hand if Mr Khew ever wanted to write a book on butterflies in Singapore. It was actually an idea Mr Khew, 51, had kept on the backburner since 2003, when publishers told him such a book would not sell.

But armed with a "five-figure" sponsorship, the book A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore was launched on Sunday at the Botanic Gardens, with Ms Ho as the guest of honour. She sponsored the book in her private capacity and declined to be interviewed for this story.

Her late mother-in-law, Mdm Kwa, also had experience "attracting butterflies to the Istana garden, planting the right type of plants to attract the desired species", Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan recounted in his blog last week.

This interest is believed to have played a role in the commissioning of a survey of butterflies at the Istana in August 2006, done by Mr Khew's online interest group, ButterflyCircle. Although the group did not interact directly with Mdm Kwa - it was a National Parks Board curator that had invited them - Ms Ho got in touch with Mr Khew soon after, he recounted.

"At that point in time, I'd just started the blog butterflycircle.blogspot.com. I didn't see any harm in sharing with a larger community of nature lovers," said Mr Khew.

Of Mdm Kwa's role in his book, which has a first print run of 1,000 copies and will be distributed to schools and public libraries, Mr Khew said it was an indication of her "care towards nature".