Celebrating the Singapore spirit

The 27,000 seats at the Marina Bay floating platform may have been largely empty, but the front-liners, Cabinet ministers and community volunteers in the stands were upbeat as some 600 participants marched in a ceremonial parade to mark Singapore's 56th birthday yesterday.

The scaled-down parade, with 70 per cent fewer participants than past parades at the platform, saw about 200 participants from nine uniformed youth groups and 12 social and economic organisations appearing on the big screen as they took part in the event virtually.

At the platform, the four guard of honour contingents - masked up and socially distanced - marched proudly against the backdrop of Marina Bay.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Gregory Kang, 29, led the guard of honour contingent from the Singapore Police Force. "As a contingent commander overseeing 72 officers, what I've really observed was a sense of unity in wanting the parade to happen... That confidence comes from everybody's sense of togetherness," he said.

Guard of honour and supporting contingents from the Singapore Armed Forces, Republic of Singapore Navy and Republic of Singapore Air Force, as well as a contingent from the Singapore Civil Defence Force, also marched live.

Representatives from 12 civilian contingents took part virtually, with participants from organisations such as the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, PSA International, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), People's Association and Singtel saluting in sync with the commands of the parade commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Tang Wee Goh.

Singapore Airlines and Families for Life took part virtually for the first time with one contingent each.

A 21-gun salute was fired from a Mobility 3rd Generation (M3G) military raft on the water as a military honour as President Halimah Yacob inspected the parade.

It was senior staff nurse Ooi Siew Chin's first time at the parade.

"I'm lucky because I was given the chance to watch the parade, although I'm the only one from Alexandra Hospital and I was quite nervous," said the 36-year-old.

The parade started shortly after 9am. As it drew to a close at about 9.50am, six F-15SG fighter jets took off in a tight delta formation across the island, to places such as Jurong, Pasir Ris, Woodlands and Bukit Timah.

Such a formation, said F-15SG pilot Muhammad Iskandar Dzulfadhli Abdul Rahman, 33, represents how Singaporeans "with our collective strength, will and unity" aim to forge ahead amid these challenging Covid-19 times.

"Furthermore, the island fly-past allows us to reach more people in the heartland as we fly over Singapore, and Singaporeans can look up to the skies and view the fly-past live from their homes," he said in an earlier interview.

Looking up, the crowd saw a Chinook helicopter carrying the national flag 1,000 ft in the air to the tune of the national anthem.

The flag soared over the eastern coastline - East Coast, Changi, Pasir Ris, Bedok, Punggol and Khatib - as well as the western areas covering West Coast, Jurong, Bukit Panjang, Bukit Timah and Choa Chu Kang.

Mr Ng Hee Seng, an officer with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, was among the "everyday heroes" invited to watch the ceremonial parade. It was his first time watching the parade after marching in NTUC's contingent in every parade for four decades, except last year and this year.

The 66-year-old said: "I'm a bit disappointed I could not take part this year, but watching is better than nothing - the parade is the important part."