Speech by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at the National Day Parade 2015 Appreciation Function

Chief of Defence Force,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First let me say how delighted I am to be here tonight to thank you for the big part that you have played in what I would consider a milestone, not only in our National Day Parade (NDP) history, but also in Singapore's history. If you looked back at the video, you would recognise how special it was.

But I would want to say a number of things which portray how really special this NDP 2015 was. I know that there were many participants and many people who put in countless hours and sacrifices. Many of you who are seated here played a big part in it, without which, the NDP would not have been a success. Many of the pictures we took at the NDP will stand as a historical record of how unique and spectacular NDP 2015 was. NDP 2015 was the culmination, but it was also a long time in the making - two years, actually.

If I can take you through the journey to explain why this NDP 2015 was so special for the MINDEF and the SAF. It really started two years ago and I will share with you our thinking and how we approached this and the events along the way. From my perspective, it started out with fear. Fear that on this special year for Singapore, having gone through so much over 50 years, that it would not be the NDP that was befitting for our Golden Jubilee. That was the first fear, that it would not be big enough, that our dreams for NDP 2015 would be small in comparison with what we had achieved.

There was a second fear that people would view it as a show. Something they came to attend, they clap and they sing, they watch and then they critique. "How come they didn't dance this way, how come they didn't do it that way?" It was a fear that people would not see NDP 2015 as their own, something which they would be hard on.

There was a third fear, of course, that things would go wrong. So if truth be told, when it ended and people asked me how was it, I said I feel more relieved than anything else. There were a lot of moving parts, really a lot of moving parts. People wowed as the airplanes were flying, and I said to (Major-General) Hoo Cher Mou, Chief of Air Force, "Your chaps have been working hard. You better tell them to sleep extra before August 9, the actual show." They had put up their hands and volunteered to perform on the 7th, 8th and 9th (Aug) at 1200pm. I do not know who asked them to do that but they volunteered. For those of you who watched it at Marina Bay, it was a very special Jubilee weekend. But there was fear, and of course the concern that the (Leopard) tanks and Bionix were a little too close to us. We had to make sure that they drive straight and all, so there were many moving parts.

But I would say that all these fears were laid to rest and I think it was because of two things. One, we had good people in charge. People whom you don't have to micro-manage. You tell them what they should achieve and they will get it done. Two, there was a fear, as I said, that it would be too small, that it would not bring Singaporeans in.

The organising committee, very early on, came to me and presented and said, "We want to make sure that every household in Singapore gets involved in NDP 2015." Now, whenever I hear a proposal - "every household in Singapore", my ears will perk up, that means we have to spend some money. They said, "We want to give a Funpack to every home."

But it was the heart that went into the Funpacks. The Funpacks were not packed by a factory line; there were items where you needed physical hands to take each item to assemble them. It was very heart-warming when we got people, including children with Down Syndrome, to come and help pack. When they finished packing, those who packed also penned special notes into each individual bag. It tells you that really, it was the spirit, without which it would not have been possible for this NDP to be what it was. So that was one big item – to have 1.2million Funpacks. As we distributed it on the ground, we began to realise how positive it was. It got neighbours to come together, it brought down the divide between public and private estates, people were talking about the Funpacks and looking forward to National Day.

The Padang was also not big enough. The Padang can only seat 26,000 people, and so I challenged (former Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General) Ng Chee Meng and (the NDP 2015 Executive Committee Chairman Brigadier-General) Melvyn Ong and the NDOC (National Day Organising Committee) and said how do we bring more people in? They came up with the idea that we should use the whole Marina Bay as the staging ground. If you look at Marina Bay – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong showed this yesterday at the National Day Rally - the Esplanade and MBS (Marina Bay Sands) and the business and financial centre were non-existent 10 years ago.

I liked the idea for two reasons. One, it brought people in. But it was also very symbolic. I liked the idea because few people realised that the Marina Bay was 30 years in the making, and it was the dreamchild of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He had actually asked architects to see how we could build a bay. He had gotten Kenzo Tange and I.M. Pei to give him ideas, and he had gone to see the Sydney Harbour. In its conceptualisation, he said, "I want something that is closed in", and they told him that he would have to do this and that. It was his idea, but successful governments brought it to pass. So it was very symbolic to get people to come in and enjoy what we had built over the last 30 or 40 years. It was a grand response to a big idea.

They said, "Why don't we have satellite performances, not only at the Padang, but at the Floating Platform, at the Promenade, and lined up everywhere?" So I said, "How do people see?" They said, "Why don't we put up big LED screens? Why don't we have the Mobile Column to go around the whole area so that everybody sees a snippet? Instead of one fireworks site, why don't we have two?" One where you see right in front of the Marina Bay Sands, and the other on the other side of the Marina Barrage, so there were actually two sites. And if you were there (at the Marina Bay area), you could see the big balls of fireworks. By the way, those of us at the Padang didn't see much of the fireworks. We were seated there (at the Padang) and all we saw were small pops. We were facing it and people who were facing us thought that we saw a lot. But we didn't see much either. The best fireworks were really seen at the Marina Bay Floating Platform, where you could see more.

It was a wonderful idea that could have only come out from the SAF, because they didn't ask the Police how they were going to handle all these cars and people. But you had 200,000 people descending into the area. So how did we control it? Very few people know that the Police, LTA and the SAF were on the 37th floor of the UOB Plaza. We had requested and they had thankfully given to us or loaned to us (the premises for) a Command Centre. We had to work very carefully, and this again was a fear, that there was going to be a stampede. We coordinated very carefully and this was what we actually learnt from the national week of mourning. When we closed certain (MRT) stations, we had to make public announcements, and you did not hear anything about problems for people getting out. The fact that it was a non-event meant it was a good event. We could not only let people come in, we could let them get out. It so happened that I was there on New Years' Day eve and I realised how packed it was, so credit to the Police whom we worked very well with.

I don't know when there will be a similarly large NDP, maybe SG75, or SG100; so enjoy this because this might be the only one that you will see in your lifetime. We had the planes flying overhead, we had the tanks and we had over 20 foreign dignitaries and leaders coming here. There were comments that they shared and each went back asking, "How is it possible that these people come together and actually want to sing?" On that night, it was magical. I wish I could have heard the whole crowd sing, because I suspect that people around the Marina Bay were also singing. It showed you how special a place we have become. I doubt you can get many countries where people come in an orderly manner - and I understand there was less litter this time because we made a point about it - and just enjoyed the night. No drunken brawls, no broken beer bottles, no riots, no looting. We have done something right, we have done something safe. So the reactions from Singaporeans were very positive and I received many compliments. My basic line to them was this was really (through the effort and contributions of) the organising committee and the participants and our donors and our supporters.

I want to thank some groups, and one of the best ideas that we had was the Vintage Parade. The idea of getting 70 or 80 year old men to come and march was quite a brilliant idea. When "Tiger Hong" left the SAF 40 years ago, he must have said, "Thank goodness that is my last parade." And then 40 years later somebody calls him up and asks, "You want to march again?" You can never quite leave the SAF. They were given a choice. We told them they can just saunter at the parade, but they said no, they wanted to march.

So for 16 weeks, many hours of their weekends, they were coming down for rehearsals and marching. In between they did something which was even more remarkable, I was told they went to the various contingents and downloaded their own memories - that's a phrase the SAF uses - and it was very good National Education. It's very hard to complain when there's a 70-year-old or 80-year-old marching alongside you. The positive responses, whether it was from the SAF and of course the Police, was that it was the favourite item. In fact, I have requested for the Police to switch back to short pants. Also the firemen, and the POSB contingent, these are the special groups that we want to thank for making it very special.

There is another group I would like to thank. I like this picture because it was completely spontaneous. I knew that at the end of it, it would be an emotional high, we had seen the rehearsals. By the way, this is my 10th NDP that I have seen in MINDEF. Every year you see one (NDP), I see five because we go through rehearsals. So this is my 50th NDP, and this was by far, the largest.

But anyhow, this was towards the end and I knew that this was going to be an emotional high. So I suggested to PM, "PM, you want to walk down or not? You know your SOs (Security Officers) would go crazy, right?" He said, "Yah, go down and do a quick extrication to get out." So I accompanied him and we went down and it was really very wonderful, very positive. Some people took some pictures, some took selfies with me, and I also wanted to thank the performers JJ (Lin) and Stephanie (Sun), but they were being mobbed and I couldn't get near them, so there was no point. As I turned around, there was this group who said, "Come and join us for a picture?" So I like this slide, because it has got our past, our pioneers, our present - that is me - and the future together. By chance, these girls were holding symbols of the crescent moon of our flag, which means a rising Singapore, and the stars, (which means) the values that Singapore has. So the impetus was completely by chance, but it encapsulated so much of what we feel about Singapore.

There's one group I want to mention in particular, people may not remember but when we went down for the rehearsals, the Muslims were observing Ramadhan. I know that every year, our National Day rehearsals usually stretch over Ramadhan. Our Muslim brothers and sisters were rehearsing without eating the whole day. They observed the fast, they don't drink. So they are very special, and we have some of them who joined us again this year. This is a picture of Mdm Fatimah and Aydan, her five-year-old son, and many more whom had join us.

I just wanted to say in closing that if this NDP was special, it was because I think Singaporeans really feel something special about Singapore, and tonight is a very small way of saying thank you. But here's a thought, most of you are sponsors, and many of you did it because this was your way of celebrating what we had achieved together. It is very special that we have achieved so much, more so because we have seen many problems around us in countries near and far. So I thank you again, without your support, we could not have done this. Thank you to all the 7000 participants, especially those from the schools, SOKA, from many of the VWOs that just performed with their hearts. Thank you all for your generous contributions, and I hope that I can go around thanking you in person as I go from table to table to thank you for your contributions. Thank you for making NDP 2015 something special in our history.

Thank you very much.

More Resources

• MINDEF Thanks NDP 2015 Organisations and Sponsors