By Nur Ashikin Abdul Aziz
SINGAPORE, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Singapore celebrates its 59th National Day on Friday with full-scale parade, defence display and show themed "Together, As One United People” at the Padang.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong made their first appearance at the National Day Parade (NDP) in their current role since coming into office in September 2023 and May 2024, respectively.
Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament, together with 27,000 members of the public dressed in red and white, were in jubilant mood and high spirits despite the rain during the earlier part of the event.
The celebration began at about 6pm with the parade and ceremony segment themed "United We Stand”, featuring a total of 35 marching contingents.
The segment involved over 2,100 participants, among others the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Colours Party, five Guard of Honour (GOH) contingents, five contingents from the SAF, Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), as well as the Volunteer contingent which returns to the NDP this year.
The next segment, the Total Defence 40 (TD40) Dynamic Defence Display (D3) titled “Together, We Are Strong” was performed at the Padang for the first time, and expanded at the Marina Bay area to allow more people to enjoy the display.
The TD40 D3 emphasise the importance of all six pillars of Total Defence – Military, Civil, Economic, Social, Digital and Psychological – through multimedia films and live-action sequences.
The segment, which involved 40 assets including the F-16s fighter jets and over 400 participants, showcased the integrated Whole-of-Government and community responses to possible threats across various scenarios, including air and maritime threats as well as civil emergencies and disruptions.
Meanwhile, the show segment themed “Our People”, was told across four chapters and three connecting short films, spotlighting the collective strength of Singaporeans and the intricate diversity and unity that defines the society through mass performances, familiar songs and emotive filmlets.
Featuring 12 artistes and over 3,000 performers, the segment consists of singalongs and mass performances, including a youth-centred pre-parade segment.
The NDP 2024 was streamed live on the official NDPeeps' Facebook and YouTube pages.
Singapore will continue its National Day festivities with the Heartland Celebrations at five heartland sites on Saturday (Aug 10), through stage performances, static displays of SAF, SCDF and SPF vehicles, and fireworks displays as well as carnival and family activities.
-- BERNAMA
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