Singapore cannot recover from the effects of Zika.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The recent article in the Scientific American "What's special about the Zika virus in Signapore" should be cause for alarm. See article here  http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/what-s-special-about-the-zika-virus-in-singapore/

Recently the Singapore ministers have been saying that the Singapore strain of the virus is different from that of Brazil and therefore no cause for alarm. This Scientific American article states the exact opposite. It states that it is too early to come to any conclusions. In fact it states very little study has been done on the Singaporean strain to know exactly how harmful it may be or what defects it may cause in humans. Because of the latent nature of this virus, not showing obvious symptoms, humans can be affected in many ways and the virus can mutate and harm the individual in combination with other illnesses. For instance a human may feel perfectly fine but may in fact be suffering from the virus which will remain in his body.

Singapore has been actively spraying insecticide across the island but the climatic nature of the small island with prime conditions for the mosquito, hot humid equatorial would make it impossible to eradicate it. Furthermore the sardine packed overpopulated island makes its arrest almost impossible. To make matters worse, it a city with huge human traffic internationally.

And the consequences beside health are extreme and catastrophic. First human reproduction will drop to zero. Without knowing exactly what it can do to you, no one, simply no one will dare a have a baby, especially since the island has no free or subsidized health care. If you get zika and you have no money, you are as good as dead. If Zika didn't kill you, the lack of medical attention will.

Tourism is one of the mainstays of the island economy. With the fear of Zika tourist arrivals will drop and hit rock bottom. Hotels will have no guests, restaurants will have no customers, retail shops will have to close, casinos will shut down and even money launderers who park their ill gotten gains in the island will go elsewhere. The airport will be empty, Singapore Airlines will have to fly empty and all round with the multiplier the economy will just collapse.

And Singapore despite its claim to wealth, in fact has nothing. It has no natural resources and no independent means of acquiring wealth. All it has is through tourism and retail trade. If there are no human beings, there is no business. It does not have the gold mines of South Africa.

It has been several months now of news of the Singaporean Zika. And in those months the effect is already being seen with low tourist arrivals and the bustling retail trade on a slow down. Just imagine what it would be in 6 months to a year. The number of infections will continue to rise and the debilitating consequences will go on unabated.

With no prospects, more Singaporeans will leave the island  either for health reasons or because they can't make any money. At the same time foreign investment into the island will collapse.

I am not sure how Zika took hold in Singapore, perhaps it is the hand of the Divine punishing the authoritarian dictators for denying democracy freedom or the rule of law and if so, I praise God for it. Now I think even without any opposition movement in the island, which they never had anyway, it is Providence which will put matters right which is to throw this establishment out.

Without any Zika in California I am watching the affairs in Singapore island and asking to know how bad it will be tomorrow in that equatorial mosquito infested island.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com