ndp come and gone

Another national day come and gone. I actually thought it was a Saturday until an F-16 flew overhead en route to the stadium. We celebrated by playing all kind of word games and card games at my home. A friend reminded me that this was how we did it last time too; maybe it is involuntarily becoming my national day tradition. Because I have never cared for the parade; never have and probably never will. As a child, I was never interested in the precision drills or the mass dances. And I literally fell asleep in the Padang at NDP 2000. The fireworks are the best part, but the New Year’s Day fireworks are even better!

Singapore is one of the very few countries in the world that celebrates our independence day on such a grand scale. (North Korea is one of the others.) It is by far the biggest event on the national calendar, both in terms of money spent and also by the number of ministers present. And what is all this in aid of?

Well I suppose the main aim is to inculcate a spirit of patriotism in our people. This starts from young, since every primary 5 student is supposed to attend the NE Shows that take place before the Preview. And inasmuch as the children really love the show, the nightmare of getting them home probably detracts somewhat from the experience. So I hope they keep the fond memories and not the sour ones. I have also heard some people who say that singing the national anthem at NDP is the time they feel most proud to be Singaporean. These are probably also the people willing to buy tickets on e-Bay.

But how long does the patriotism last? After 41 years, shouldn’t we all be very patriotic by now if NDP worked? It almost makes me feel that Singaporeans are like those Christians that only go to church on Christmas and Easter. Given the vast resources employed, isn’t there a better and more lasting way to build national spirit, where being Singaporean is an everyday affair and not just an annual party?

Another suggested reason for NDP is the show of deterrent force when we roll out the mobile column every five years. Personally I am quite cynical of this, because I’m sure potential adversaries’ intelligence services should provide a much better picture. And if not, they can always read Defending the Lion City or Janes.

Sometimes part of me feels a little guilty too, for being such a detractor. Maybe I am just more fortunate to be able to watch professional performances like musicals and dance, which are much more entertaining. Maybe for some people, NDP is the biggest show they could hope to watch, and they really look forward to it. But again, if this was the purpose of the parade, then I think the resources could be better spent to achieve this goal.

Thanks for the holiday, but I’ll skip the parade.

Just for the heck of it, I went back to read what I wrote about NDP last year. It's kinda funny to see things again in retrospect. I think I had better stuff to say back then.