Happy Birthday Singapore: 45th National Day
Very spectacular! Truly well-organised! This is Singapore!
This is Singapore that I have heard of: being punctual, disciplined, and well-ordered. These words could be cliché but they are, more or less, shown successfully in the celebration of the 45th National Day.
The full 4-hour of the celebrations can say many things about this country, like the message from Mr Lee Hsien Loong, PM of Singapore, it is time to reflect on the past, appreciate the present, and look to the future for an even better Singapore.
This time I have privilege to witness from the VIP stadium with a group of journalists from Asean to learn more about Singapore.
The event started sharply at 4.30 pm at Padang, in front of the City Hall. The theme for this year is “Love our Dreams Fly our Flag”. I can see how the stadiums are fully packed with 25,000 seats of visitors with most people wearing red and white t-shirt, which fits the theme of “Red-White Wow” too.
Throughout the four hours of the event, I can see how the nation has encouraged strong message of “united people of Singaporeans”. From the outset, different interests of various groups of people are addressed to help to pursue the same dreams of Singapore. From the three big screens, the image of ethnic Malays and Indians are shown with ethnic Chinese, from young to old generation.
I can see how vibrant of Singaporean’s spirit are clearly shown.
The most impressive and, I would say, highlight of the event would be 210 of army vehicles involved in the Mobile Column. This is a real show of “military capacity” of Singaporean armies. This year, the first time in five years, those thirty contingents take part in the Parade and ceremony segment. The segment represents the five pillars of Total Defence, namely military, civil, economic, social and psychological defence.
All types of military participate in the parade from army, navy, airforce, police force and civil defence force.
It is a real show of military. On the one hand, I can see how the country is so confident with how it has achieved so far for 45 years of its independence. On the other hand, the full-stretch show of military could have reflected psychological defense too for this “small and open” country.
Happy Birthday Singapore!
