On Patriotism

So it was National Day here in Singapore this weekend. Now, to describe this to my loyal readers (and a Cheerio to both of you – Howdy Jethro & Cletus!), and to try and apply the correct corresponding holiday, well National Day in Singapore is like: Australia Day, 4th of July, or Gay Forkes Day (sorry Smurf, I tried … the only bit of Pommie history I was learned was something about whipping the Red Coats in the 1776 Super Bowl).

The build up has been weeks in the making, with flags hanging from almost every window, high rise, gate and public door way. And on the day (9-Aug-09), the parade and celebration were … well, let’s just say that it is what you would get if Kim Jong Il and the winner of the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest were to put on the half time show at a Sydney Swans match.

There was so much Gold that I don't know where to start mining. It was an extraordinary sea of national colours (red and white), with amazing stage shows (perform by unsuccessful contestants from “So You Think You Can Dance”), wonderful singing (from those that didn’t feel confident making the trek over to the Singapore Idol try outs), powerful military showcases (military marches, military bands, bagpipes [?], tactical response teams, F16 jets, Apache Choppers and what looked like a Leopard Tank and a few of its siblings), green UFO lanterns (helium “baby birds”), a national Pledge at 22 minutes past 8, and culminating in a brief and yet massive fireworks display. Then you overlay those performances with an odd historical 6-part play … which I think was the end of term performance from one of the public school’s Year 2 classes.

The highlight for me was the simulated terrorist attack, which caught wifey a little unawares. When the pretty newscaster interrupted proceedings to announce bombs had gone off in Singapore, the testy voice from the blonde goddess called me into the living room. Of course, it was just a chance for Singapore to demonstrate its military might to the few thousand lucky punters that had waited 3 years to buy their National Day tickets to sit in the stadium down at the marina. Upon realisation, wifey murmured something about “small man syndrome” and stormed off for another Sav Blanc (which probably cost me as much as one of those 1978 F16’s cost the Singapore government). Mind you the give away for me was that each time said pretty newscaster came on to announce a new phase of the terror attack, the Singapore dollar on the right of the ticker kept going up … when it hit $4.50, I figured something definitely weren’t right.

Setting aside my facetiousness for a brief moment, I have to say well done to Singapore. As a 44 year old country (which I think makes it a tweeny on the global scale), you have mustered a heck of a lot of pride for such a diverse joint. I reckon you are almost ready to go on a date with Australia, which is still pretending that it is a teenager.

For more details, head here: http://www.ndp.org.sg/