‘It’s so close’: Crowds turn up for Red Lions, mobile column at National Day heartland celebrations

SINGAPORE – National Day celebrations spilled into the heartland on Aug 10, where more than 200,000 residents in five districts were treated to games, activities, performances and fireworks displays.

This year, the mobile column made pit stops in the heartland for the first time, allowing the public to get up close with vehicles from the Singapore Armed Forces and the Home Team.

The vehicles stopped for 1½ hours at five places across the island before they arrived at the heartland celebrations.

Snaking queues of people braved the afternoon heat to catch the display, many with children in tow. Others, deterred by the queue, watched from outside the fence.

One of the pit stops was at CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh) and CHIJ Secondary School, where the mobile column arrived at about 2.20pm.

Mr Ryan Ng, 40, arrived with his family at about 1.30pm, driving there from their home in Bukit Batok.

He told The Straits Times that he had taken his two older children, aged seven and four, to the National Day Parade (NDP) at the Padang the day before, and they had wanted to see more of the mobile column.

At the Tampines Concourse Bus Interchange, the first in line to see the mobile column were five-year-old Leia Sim and her mother Sarah Ho, who waited for over an hour to catch the display.

“So nice, so nice,” Ms Ho beamed as she exited the bus interchange, holding her daughter’s hand.

The civil servant said her family had watched the mobile column by the roadside in 2020, but the vehicles did not stop for them to get a closer look.

“Her papa used to drive a tank as a reservist,” added Ms Ho, 35. “It is a rare opportunity getting to see the tanks.”

Insurance manager Clement Lim, 41, said he was unable to secure tickets to the NDP this year.

“A lot of people want to be involved in the NDP, but there is only so much space available, so I am glad we can come to see this,” said Mr Lim, who was with his wife, daughter and his brother-in-law’s family.

The crowds in Bishan also got a special treat: The Red Lions display jump, one of the highlights of the celebrations in Bishan this year.

Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing arrived at the open field next to Junction 8 in Bishan at about 3.30pm to watch the Red Lions and interact with residents.

After a slight delay due to a drizzle, the Red Lions were greeted with rousing cheers from the crowd as they landed on the field at about 4.35pm.

Among those watching the Red Lions was 987FM DJ Joakim Gomez, one of the hosts of this year’s NDP. Speaking to ST, Mr Gomez, who lives in Bishan, said he was about to go for a run but decided to drop by the heartland celebration.

“(Watching the Red Lions) at the Padang on National Day itself, it causes goosebumps, but over here, it is so close to the people, who might not be able to go to the Padang.

“So, I am glad that the Red Lions are doing this for the community,” said Mr Gomez.

The 12 vehicles from the mobile column arrived in Bishan at about 5pm, to the delight of the children who waved enthusiastically to the soldiers on board.

At about 7pm, MPs and grassroots advisers arrived in Bishan and were warmly greeted by residents, who queued up to take photos with them.

Among the special guests were Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat and Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo.

Taking the stage at about 8pm, SM Lee greeted the crowd by wishing them a happy 60th National Day.

“We have come a long way, and may we work together for many more years to make Singapore successful, prosperous and happy, and a little red dot in the world for many, many more years to come,” he said.

The heartland celebrations, organised by the People’s Association in partnership with the NDP executive committee, took place at four other locations.

They were held from 4pm to past 9pm at the Bukit Gombak ActiveSG Stadium, and the open fields beside FutsalArena @ Yishun, One Punggol and Wisma Geylang Serai.

At One Punggol, the venue was packed with attendees.

Madam Veronica Ong, 58, tried on the camo face paint at one of the booths, together with her daughter’s friend Kaitlyn Tan.

“We just wanted to try it out,” said Madam Ong, who could not stop laughing as Ms Tan, 31, struggled to remove the face paint afterwards. She had snagged tickets to the NDP and the heartland celebrations for Ms Tan and her daughter Aloysia Han.

Ms Tan said she enjoyed the “interactive” segment of the show, when soldiers went up the stairs to greet the audience in the stands.

Ms Daya Khairul, 29, snapped photos of her four-year-old son Aariz Muhaimin and her three-year-old nephew Musa Kharyandi in mini SAF uniforms at another booth.

She had gone with her family and her sister’s family after watching NDP on TV the night before, a show she described as “emotional”.

“They didn’t want to take off the uniforms, until we told them they would have to stay at the booth if they wanted to keep wearing them,” she said with a laugh.

Crowds gathered around Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and his Punggol GRC team when they arrived at about 7.30pm, interacting and posing for pictures with attendees at the mobile column display before moving into the main event space.

A total of 24 MPs and grassroots advisers made an appearance, including Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah.

Addressing the crowd at 7.40pm, Mr Masagos said: “When we look back at the last 60 years, we can have a sense of confidence, a sense of pride because we have indeed come a long way. We have achieved great miracles that no countries have seen before.

“But at the same time, we cannot take our success and progress for granted. We must continue to work together, to stay together, remain united, so that we can move forward and progress as one nation, one community, one people, and we will know we will leave no one behind.”

As the night ended, fireworks lit up the sky over the five districts as a final cheer for Singapore’s 60th birthday.

Correction note: People’s Association has clarified that the total turnout is more than 200,000 instead of more than 170,000 attendees.