Speech by Minister for Defence, Mr Chan Chun Sing, at the National Day Parade 2025 Appreciation Function on 19 Aug 2025 at Surbana Jurong Campus

A very good afternoon to all of you. First, let me thank Surbana Jurong for hosting us at this beautiful new venue. Thank you very much.

I would also like to first thank all of you—and the many members of your teams working behind the scenes. Each one of you here represents many more who have contributed to making National Day Parade (NDP) 2025, our SG60, such a special year. Thank you very much for your effort.

As you saw in the video earlier, there are far too many individuals and groups for me to thank individually. I will try to do that later.

Reflecting on the Meaning of NDP

As I prepared to speak with you this afternoon, I reflected on what it truly means for us to celebrate SG60, and what it means for us to come together for NDP every year.

For those of us who have been involved in organising the parade over the last 20 or 30 years, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Sometimes, we get caught up in the technical aspects of it, but we must remind ourselves to take a step back and ask: what have we just accomplished, and why do we continue to do this?

Every NDP is special in its own way. There are always new items, new performers, and new participants. But I thought I will just share some reflections that are to me evergreen and very important in all these NDPs that we have participated in. But let me say this first: all of us here did not simply put up a show. The show was only a means. We have made a statement—a powerful statement—about the values we hold dear as a people, as Singaporeans. And what are these values?

Innovation and Excellence

First, if you look at every NDP, don’t you think each one is different? Every NDP seeks to present something new, something refreshing, to fellow Singaporeans. What does this tell us, and what does it show the world?

It tells the world that we are a people who constantly strive for innovation and excellence. We are never satisfied with just repeating rituals. A ritual is something that you keep doing over and over again, and once you get the hang of it, you just keep perfecting what you have been good at. But here, every year, each organising committee and every participant pushes themselves to innovate, to do something new. We have done this consistently for the past 60 years and I am quite sure we will continue doing so for many more years to come.

Perseverance and Discipline

Second, people often ask me, “How many rehearsals do you all have to do?” It will be fair to say that for many of the participants, both in front and behind the scenes, the answer would be countless. Some are formally organised, others are done on your own time. And what does this say again? And this is the second point, that this is a people who is always persevering, striving for excellence, and never satisfied with just the status quo.

In fact, after every rehearsal and after each actual NDP, I receive many congratulatory messages. My humble reply to everyone was: “Thank you very much, we will improve next year.” Because that is the standard we set for ourselves, and the spirit we uphold: always innovating, always persevering.

Inclusiveness and Unity

The third thing that struck many people, for all the NDPs, and especially this year, is our spirit of inclusiveness. I have always said this: "In many places in the world, when they want to demonstrate their strength, they will show the strongest, the mightiest, the best". But in Singapore, we do it differently. It was quite amazing to many of the foreign guests when they saw our NDP, we showcase everyday Singaporeans coming together to achieve something extraordinary. Each and every one of us by ourselves would never have imagined that we can come together to put on a performance like this—a show of unity, a show of discipline.

For us, we will include everyone—from the little, to the lost, and to those with the least. This is the spirit of Singapore, where we build a nation not just for a select group of people, but for all, including the most vulnerable. And that speaks to the kind of spirit we have.

Honouring Our Past and Envisioning Our Future

Last but not least, every NDP honours our past and envisions our future. Again, it speaks to the kind of spirit that we have. We are people who treasure our diverse backgrounds, honour those who have come before us, build on the foundations they have laid, and endeavour to do better for our generation, and more importantly, to enable the next generation to do even better than ours.

So to me, every NDP may look similar or different from your perspective, but these four sets of values are evergreen to me, and they speak to me much more than any one particular item or act. Yet every item and act, every movement, every action in and out of the parade ground, speaks to our spirit of innovation, to constantly seek improvement; to our spirit of perseverance, that we will keep pursuing excellence and never take for granted what we have; to our spirit of inclusiveness, to include everyone in our society so that everyone has a part; and to our spirit of remembrance, where we honour the past and envision the future.

Achievements Through Collective Strength

To me, all these are the important things that we have achieved together beyond the individual items. And we are only able to do this because of all of you here, and your teams, because no matter how good the organisers in MINDEF and the SAF may be, we could never achieve this alone. The most powerful statement we can make is not just from one organisation called MINDEF or the SAF, but from the collective strength of our people, demonstrated by all of you and your organisations in supporting us.

In fact, many people marvel at how we are able to put this together. Every rehearsal has perhaps 27,000 in the audience. But behind those 27,000 are tens of thousands more—from the sponsors, to the logistics teams, to the traffic marshals, to the people in the command and control centres—making sure that everything runs like clockwork.

By the way, NDP is the only event where we have clocks down to the split second—apart from the Olympics sprint events—and that says something about us as a people. So I really want to thank all of you, and I hope that you will convey our appreciation to your teams and the members who are not able to be with us today.

Looking Forward to SG61

Next year, in the same spirit, we will do something different. Next year, we will have our NDP 2026, SG61, at the Singapore Sports Hub. We were last there almost 10 years ago, but because of COVID-19, it interrupted our sequence. But next year, we will try something new. It will be a fresh venue, and we will have fresh ideas, fresh performances. And here, I invite all of us to contribute ideas on how we can make SG61 at the Singapore Sports Hub a special and meaningful experience for everyone.

For the teams in MINDEF and the SAF—to answer Joakim’s question just now—actually, the NDP executive committee (EXCO) is a 15-month journey. Before we even executed this year’s NDP, another team led by HQ Armour was already thinking about next year. And that is how we work in Singapore: always thinking two steps ahead. I look forward to you and your teams, and many other fresh participants, joining us next year at the Singapore Sports Hub, where we can try out new ideas, involve more people, and bring in different aspects of our parades, ceremonies and performances that we could do differently from what we have been doing at the Padang, and also at the NS Square, which will be ready in a few years’ time.

Inspiring the Next Generation

I hope that we will continue to send this powerful statement to inspire the next generation to always look forward to NDP. To the younger generation, I would like to invite you to look forward to being part of the NDP100, SG100 organising committee. When we say we think long term, we mean it. We have gotten to where we are because of the hard work and dedication of the Pioneer Generation, the Merdeka Generation, the Majulah Generation—every generation has endeavoured to do better for the next.

It is not too early for those in their 20s to aspire that one day you will be participating in NDP100, because that is what we are striving for and beyond. And whatever we do now, I am quite sure you will remember, and I am quite sure you will do something even more spectacular for our nation in time to come. This is the spirit that we hope we can pass on from generation to generation—the NDP spirit, the Singapore spirit. Thank you very much.

More Resources

Minister for Defence Thanks NDP 2025’s Organisers, Participating Organisations and Sponsors