| Sports |
By SEAH CHIANG
NEE
National parade instils pride
EVERYONE loves a parade, they say,
but few embrace the idea more passionately than Singaporeans
when it comes to celebrating the National Day.
In fact most Western nations which have never been conquered do
not observe their National Day as actively as this young
republic had done over the past four decades.
The US marks July 4 or Independence Day with plenty of
fireworks, family picnics, concerts and baseball games, but –
like Canada and other nations outside the communist world – it
has no mass parade.
One reason is they may be too big to allow for one big rallying
point, so the important holiday means little more than a
marching band, political speeches and flag-bedecked buildings.
The Swedes, who have not fought in a modern war, have a guarded
attitude towards celebrating a national day. They say they are
proud of their country but do not feel any need to show it.
New Zealand does not even have one.
“The timing is right for us to actively and positively advance
our national identity – starting with a new national day,”
United Future leader Peter Dunne said.
Tiny Singapore has gone the other extreme. During the past 41
years, it has not only celebrated it on a grand scale but has
also evolved it into a national icon that stirs the nation’s
emotions.
On its 42nd birthday bash on Aug 9, it was on a more imaginative
scale than before.
For the first time it was held on the world’s largest floating
stage at Marina Bay watched by 27,000 Singaporeans decked out in
patriotic red-white shirts.
As I watched the televised parade, my mind recalled pictures
that I have seen of a million-strong people marching in
Tiananmen after a new China had emerged and wondered if
Singapore had copied the concept.
Nothing beats the communists, including North Korea or the
former Soviet Union, which used it to flex their missiles and
rockets and accompanied by goose-steeping soldiers.
Singapore, too, occasionally showed off its military prowess
(including jetfighters screaming overhead) but this year’s
parade, like all
others, was mostly of a softer, cultural nature of dancing and
songs.
The show was put on the internet for the 150,000 Singaporeans
living abroad.
Inspiring songs in four languages filled the air. Discovery
Channel ran a documentary about how the nation came into being.
From early independence, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP)
had realised – as the Chinese communists did in 1949 – that mass
public rallies and patriotic songs could instil a sense of pride
and unity in the people.
The marching contingents, the roaring crowds and waves of
exploding fireworks amplified by loudspeakers have, I am sure,
served to quicken the process of nation building.
The PAP saw a special need for the expensive party. Singapore
has been through war, communism and communal strife and often
feels vulnerable to threats of one form or another.
“Countries like these will use their national days to arouse
sentiments of nationalism and rally their citizens,” one foreign
journalist said.
Singapore has another crucial objective – promoting racial ties.
The efficient way the parade was organised reveals much about
Singapore and its people, and explains why it has collectively
been successful.
Next to cities like Beijing, New Delhi or Pyongyang, which hold
much bigger parades, Singapore’s capability for clockwork
organisation is the most telling.
“Hardly a month or two passes at the end of one parade before
planning begins on next year’s,” a foreign journalist observed.
Thousands of children would stand in line waiting to do their
bit.
“In our own country, these kids would wander all over the place.
It’s not easy to get nine-year-olds to stand neatly in line and
obey instructions,” one South-East Asian visitor said.
This year’s rally was held amid a strong economy and high
employment, but also widespread price increases that are hitting
the pockets of the broad middle and poorer class.
It was fuelled by an increase last month in the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) from 5% to 7%.
The spirit of Singaporeans is dampened by rising costs of almost
all their daily necessities, including housing, food, public
transport and health-care, making life hard for salary earners.
Above all, this is a widening economic gap.
In the past five years, the wealthiest 20% got richer while the
income of the bottom one-fifth shrank.
The worst sufferers are poorly-educated senior citizens who find
it difficult to find work in Singapore’s modern economy.
In his National Day message, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said
his government would adopt measures to help them find work and
increase their retirement savings.
Lee unfolded a string of sterling news about strong growth (7.6%
in the first half) and other achievements that could match those
during his father’s golden era.
Yet the reactions of their respective followers differed
sharply.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was widely praised during his time
as prime minister, while the son is finding it hard to rally the
younger generation behind him.
Blogger Aaron Ng wrote of the parade: “The amount of euphoria
generated ... temporarily suppresses the unhappy feelings of
social groups left out of Singapore’s rapid economic
development.”
Other critics are unhappy with the government’s refusal to allow
opposition MPs to hold outdoor National Day dinners in their own
constituencies.
The PAP could field a marching contingent and display party
flags at the parade, but not the opposition.
“The government promised to build an inclusive society that
leaves out no one,” a
cynic remarked. “The parade does not show real inclusiveness.”
 
|
