The National Day Parade's ticket allocation system certainly needs fixing (Never been to the NDP? Give every citizen a ticket; Aug 6).

When my children were very young, I thought it would be a great opportunity to immerse them in the atmosphere of an actual National Day Parade, and so entered the ballot for tickets.

Alas, after multiple failed attempts over the years, we no longer bother to try.

It appears that, time and again, there are tickets "reserved" for sponsors and for people from certain services. It is not uncommon to see them pass the tickets on to others, as they have seen the parade many times before.

At the recent parade, a woman was caught on camera with her arms crossed and looking bored while people around her waved flags enthusiastically as the President made his round.

Peh Chwee Hoe