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Monday, August 10, 2009

Singapore's National Day Parade 2009

Singapore celebrated her 44th year of independence yesterday (Sun, 9 August 2009) amidst the worst recession it's seen. Our nation is showing a spirit of resilience and in this way, this National Day celebration is special as it demonstrates a coming together to celebrate the plucky attitude of Singaporeans to survive the crisis. As you can see, the floating platform on Marina Bay shows continual renewal in the Singapore skyline with mega construction projects ongoing, the most significant of which is the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort which is expected to open next year.
The big screen eye on the platform shows the unfolding of the different spectacles forming our big bash celebration. This screen shows the firing of five ceremonial guns.
Here, you see the real thing on the baywater - it is the first time that 21-gun Presidential Salute is fired from a floating platform. The guns fired at 60 second interval while the President inspects the front row of the marching contingents. The contingents comprise 2000 people from the armed forces, the police, uniformed and civilian groups. The ceremonial part of the celebrations is always part of our National Day celebration. Over the years, more exciting performances were added. The crowd pleaser is the air, land and sea simulated exercise of a counter-terrorist attack.

There is the colourful pageantry of dances as usual but this year, there were skits put up by local actors which featured Singlish, that non-exportable Singaporean-speak that is an identity marker, cringeworthy at times but always heartfelt. For the first time, Ivan Heng, our talented theatre director in the local performing arts scene, was the creative director.

I leave you to view our finale, the fireworks display, of our birthday bash. Happy Birthday Singapore!

That's my World

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23 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this bit of historical information. Your photos are really grand.

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  2. Great post, interesting historical info and lovely photos! Doesn't get any better than that!

    Have a great week!

    Sylvia

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  3. Great shots from the celebrations. The stadium is unique.

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  4. Hi, the guns are firing at 60 seconds interval... for 60 minutes interval, it would have lasted 21 hours..... Cheers.

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  5. Happy birthday Singapore! The city my husband and I visited in 1996. We were on our way to Australia and had a stop over in your beautiful city.Thanks for sharing. Thanks for your visit and comment.

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  6. You're right Lenox, fixed that..thanks

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  7. Happy Birthday Singapore! We're just across the Causeway and I love visiting your country. So much to see and enjoy :)

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  8. Singapore has been a great success story, yet these celebrations remind me of the great dictatorships....when times get tough, give the people a spectacle, after all it already worked for the Romans. Not that it gets you out of a recession, and saving the mony for some worrthwhile project rather than squandering it on a show, would probably not have achieved much. Spectacles engender fervid national pride and nationalism is a questionable thing when viewed from a wider perspective. Don't mind me, I am just a philosopher who has been around for a long time.

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  9. Arija, the question of being prudent with money applies to the government definitely. After all we are the taxpayers. The line between mere spectacle and true celebration is quite a dicey one.

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  10. Thanks for sharing this about your lovely country.

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  11. Wonderful pics. It is always so inspiring when people pull together to celebrate something bigger than themselves during difficult times.

    Christi

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  12. I love your world Irene!
    Happy OW from Canada
    Love Claudie
    xo

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  13. Happy Birthday to you Singapore! Lovely post, your pictures are wonderful and I loved learning a bit more about your beautiful country. Kathy

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  14. Wow, great post. Thanks for sharing.
    Maryrose

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  15. I always like the Lion City.
    Happy National Day.

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  16. Wow Irene, thanks for sharing. This is a wonderful post. Please stop by and share Outdoor Wednesday with me. Beautiful post of the festivities. Country hugs, Sherry

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  17. Thank you for sharing photos of the celebration with us. It is great to get to know more about the people of Singapore.

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  18. I have always wanted to visit Singapore and I would love to attend such a fabulous celebration of her independence. Your photos are terrific and the city is amazing.

    Hugs...Jeanne

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  19. Happy happy National Day!!

    Great shots and certainly something i was not aware of.

    TTFN~~ Claudia ♥ ♥

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  20. It must have been so exciting to be there...loved your shots. How fascinating, this Singlish that you mentioned. I have never heard of it but would love to know more about it. Thanks for sharing! :)

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Great to see you ~Irene