SINGAPORE - About 125,000 people turned up at the floating platform and around Marina Bay on Aug 9 for this year's National Day Parade (NDP) celebrations, the first full-scale one since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
In addition, almost three million people tuned in to the NDP telecast online or on their televisions, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Thursday (Aug 18) at a dinner event in Gardens by the Bay to thank those involved in this year's parade.
The numbers - which are higher than for some pre-pandemic NDPs - signalled the confidence and desire of Singaporeans to return to normalcy, said Dr Ng.
"Whether on-site or across the island, Singaporeans made a statement of their desire and confidence to return to normalcy, to claim back what the virus had robbed us of these past years."
About 25,000 people watched this year's NDP in-person at the floating platform - the first one to be open to the public after two years.
The parades in both 2020 and 2021 were held with tight safe management measures in place, which were eased in April this year.
The parade was downsized to an audience of 150 in 2020, and increased to about 1,000 spectators last year.
Important lessons were learnt from those two NDPs, which were held under challenging circumstances, said Dr Ng.
"When we could not have large crowds or many participants for NDP at the floating platform (at Marina Bay), we instead brought slices of the NDP to the heartland - the Red Lions descending from the sky down to HDB estates, bringing the SAF and Home Team hardware, firework shows and carnivals there," he said.
"We also had to use a mix of live and video performances for NDP. These adaptations will now become standard features of future NDPs to be more inclusive and extend reach to all households across our island.
"For NDP 2022, the 12 heartland celebration sites reached out to more than 150,000 Singaporeans, one of the largest ever on record. Singaporeans wanted to celebrate National Day together."
At the dinner, Dr Ng gave out certificates of appreciation to 25 gold award recipients and 70 principal partners.
Dr Ng had said in July that next year’s NDP celebrations will be held at the Padang, adding that he hopes that parades after next year can be held at the National Stadium, until the permanent location, NS Square, is ready. NS Square is expected to be ready by end-2026.
