Yesterday, 9 August 2015, was the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s independence as a city state. As it was mentioned in one of those national songs we have from back in 1987:
There was a time when people said that Singapore won’t make it, but we did.
There was a time when troubles seemed too much for us to take, but we did.
We built a nation, strong and free,
Reaching out together, for peace and harmony
Amazingly, we did.
We cannot take about the achievements of Singapore without mentioning the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
While 50 years of Singapore as a nation sounds like nothing compared to the history of the other countries in the region/world but know this, Singapore has absolutely NOTHING; not even our own source of water.
There are detractors who say that it’s not only the efforts of the late Lee Kuan Yew that created the foundation to bring Singapore to where it is today but you cannot deny his vision and driving force to make things happen.
So all that said, damn right we have a lot to celebrate about.
I don’t deny that I too, had experience the fatigue of the 8 months worth of “SG50” celebrations. As it was literally in your face at every turn, it got very annoying after a while, like, “ok, it’s Singapore’s 50th year of independence. We have a lot of things to celebrate about. I get it, so now STOP!”
Yet, when the actual day was upon us, all such fatigue faded away. There was a whole host of activities lined up to commemorate the day and needless to say, I had to go and check it out.
First up for the day was the aerial acrobatics display by the RSAF Black Knights.
It is always such a treat to watch an aerial acrobatic display as they are really the best of the best in our RSAF pilots. I got a chance to meet and talk to one of them earlier this year during the SAF50 exhibition at Vivocity.
Check out the livery on the F16C.
So cool. I am very happy with myself for this shot to be honest. Haha.
Following the aerial display, we went to look for lunch but guess what? It looked like the entire Singapore who didn’t travel overseas decided to head down to Marina Bay Sands as well.
After finding food, we proceeded down to The Promontory to find a spot to watch the fireworks later in the evening. As it was the #SG50 version of the National Day parade, there were quite a few large screens that were put up around the Marina Bay so everyone can watch the parade at The Padang as well. I actually like the large screens as I could roughly see and know what is going on in the parade. While we don’t have a very clear view or sound from the large screens, it was very nice to see how cooperative everyone was by sitting down on the floor so that everyone can get a view.
When it was time to sing-along to the national songs, you could hear people singing along softly too. Haha. It was actually quite funny how people started to sing loudly when Kit Chan sang “Home”. I think it’s everyone’s favourite national song. Hahaha.
Also, when some of us heard the National Anthem and stood up, some people at the back started yelling for us to sit down but when we told them it’s the National Anthem, they promptly stood up and passed the word to the people at the back to stand up as well.
It was a really lovely and emotional moment when you can hear the entire Marina Bay singing along to Majulah Singapura and reciting the Pledge. A very beautiful sight indeed.
Since it was the Jubilee weekend, I decided to bring the DLSR out for a spin yesterday and here are some of the other photos that I took around Marina Bay.
