National Day 2020

A National Day like no other: Apart today, but always together

There may not be the traditional coming together of tens of thousands of Singaporeans, but today's more sombre National Day Parade is a rallying call to reaffirm Singapore's collective confidence in its future

Numerous parade segments, such as the state flag fly-past (above) and a mobile column, will take place at various locations islandwide. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

Singapore celebrates its 55th birthday today amid a climate of economic uncertainty, caused by a global pandemic that has claimed more than 700,000 lives.

By any measure, today's celebration will be a solemn one, as the country faces its worst recession since independence and the prospect of more job losses in the months ahead - the ongoing fallout from Covid-19.

But even as necessity dictates that it must be a safe-distanced National Day celebrated individually, rather than the usual sea of red and white as tens of thousands gather at the Padang or the Marina Bay Floating Platform, this year's National Day Parade (NDP) is more similar to past ones than it is different, as an occasion to deepen common bonds and identity.

Like a renewal of vows for an old wedded couple, it remains a day when Singaporeans reaffirm their faith: not just in one another, but as a cohesive whole, through thick and thin, and in both good times and bad.

Familiar National Day touchstones such as the uniformed-contigent parade, flag fly-past, Red Lions and an evening show capped with a spectacular fireworks display are on the cards despite the no-touch world Singaporeans find ourselves in, which speaks to the NDP organising committee's resourcefulness, but also the fact that the capacity to overcome adversity remains firmly in the national DNA.

A RETURN TO ROOTS

Kicking off with a morning segment at the Padang, this year's NDP also harks back to the very moment of modern Singapore's founding and its first daytime parade a year later, when the founding generation conveyed to the world its determination to move from an inchoate grouping to an organised people.

On this morning 55 years ago, the Proclamation of Independence - that Singapore will henceforth be a sovereign, democratic and independent nation - rang out over the airwaves, to a shocked nation and the realisation that this island was suddenly on its own.

The founding generation was determined to carry on in the face of slim odds that Singapore would survive, and wanted the world to know.

In 1966, to mark the first anniversary of its independence, the Republic held its first NDP.

Held at the Padang, this comprised a 90-minute march-past of 23,000 men, women and children, including six contingents of Singapore's then-volunteer army, the People's Defence Force.

The country pulled out all the stops for that inaugural parade. There was both a day and night fireworks display, reported The Straits Times, and a giant floating dragon illuminated by 12,500 bulbs "which glided gracefully between Telok Ayer Basin and Tanjong Rhu" drew thousands of spectators from all over the island.

Despite the host of problems facing a fledgling Singapore, that first NDP was designed to be an extraordinary event to bring Singaporeans together and nurture that budding national spirit and optimism in the future.

Numerous parade segments, such as the state flag fly-past (above) and a mobile column, will take place at various locations islandwide. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

The unity and collective confidence in the future that it sparked among Singaporeans was priceless, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told Parliament in June.

"It showed to the rest of the world that despite great difficulties, ours was a country that would not be beaten down - ours was a people that will rise and overcome," he said.

This is why no matter the challenges, be they financial crises or health ones like the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and H1N1, Singapore has not once missed hosting the NDP to celebrate its independence, said Dr Ng.

CELEBRATING SINGAPOREANS

As with this year's more intimate NDP, Insight has chosen to focus on the stories of everyday Singaporeans who, in their own quiet way, have chosen to rise and overcome and not be beaten down.

There are those who, because of their occupations, are on the front line against the virus, caring for patients or securing Singapore's food supply.

There are those who, despite the painful swab tests and extra safety precautions, stepped up to make the NDP a reality in the face of Covid-19, to rally each Singaporean and raise collective spirits for the fight ahead.

Some, like Ms Jacqueline Theresa Pereira, are both: The 56-year-old patients' service executive working in administration at Changi General Hospital will dance for the nation in this evening's show.

This newspaper, which has documented key milestones in Singapore's national journey for 175 years, also checked in with Singaporeans whom the paper profiled a decade ago, in the lead-up to NDP 2010.

Whomever the newsmaker, there was one constant: a drive to reinvent oneself and find a way to succeed, whatever the odds.

These are the stories that give optimism for the future, and the reason Singapore celebrates.

LOOKING FORWARD

What makes Singapore stand apart from other post-colonial nations is that each Aug 9 is a commemoration not of the past, but of the future, for the simple reason that independence was unexpected - its insistence on multiracialism saw Singapore exit the Malaysian Federation less than two years after the union.

These beginnings form the foundation of the national psyche, and Singapore's stance towards each stressor it faces since.

Young or old, born here or having chosen to call this island home, "a shining thread runs through the story of independent Singapore... the conviction that the future is in our hands", this newspaper said on Aug 9, 2003, following Singapore's successful battle against Sars.

This was the mindset Singapore cultivated from the start. In his first National Day message in 1966, prime minister Lee Kuan Yew sought to drive this home by urging Singaporeans never to take the future for granted, but to treasure the dignity and freedom that come from independence by working together for an enduring Singapore.

The successive days saw him criss-cross the island to make his point in rally-like speeches, always sounding a note of confidence.

"We have gone through a lot over the last 10 years and, in spite of riots, commotion, tumultuous changes, all the time this place has surged forward - never backwards," he told a crowded NDP dinner at the former Bras Basah Community Centre.

"Make up our minds to make sure that this is ours for all time... that we will stand here and dig our toes in, and build a robust society that will take on any rocks that will come."

At each trial the country faced on its road to its 55th anniversary, Singaporeans have shown their mettle, and so it must again in the face of Covid-19.

If the virus is a mighty storm that has damaged sails and forced ships around the world into harbour - as Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat put it in Parliament in June - today would be the day Singaporeans pledge to stay a united crew, rowing forward as one.

It is fitting, then, that the maritime sail-past returns this year after a 20-year hiatus, with 13 vessels gliding past the Marina Bay skyline in formation this morning.

As the poet T.S. Eliot once said: "Fare forward. / O voyagers, O seamen, / You who came to port... Not fare well, / But fare forward, voyagers."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on August 09, 2020, with the headline A National Day like no other: Apart today, but always together. Subscribe