It’s our 48th National Day today. For some reasons, the festivities this year seems to be somewhat muted. I don’t think it’s got to do with the super long weekend where everyone has gone overseas for a short holiday. If you look around, there seem to be fewer flags hanging out on windows that last year. There are fewer cars carrying flags than last year too.
The National Day Parade celebrations itself also seem to have been turned down a notch. Or, at least, that’s the feeling that I’m getting. I suppose we could not possibly have a grander and grander celebration every year. Perhaps the plan is to downsize the 48th and 49th National Days, so that they could easily create a high impact extravaganza for the 50th National Day in 2015.
The parade is again going to be at the Marina Bay floating platform, against the backdrop of Marina Bay Sands. If you ask me, this is beginning to get a little stale. It’s not so much that we need to change the venue, but somehow create a refreshing new ambience to the parade.
Alright, I shouldn’t critique too much even before the actual parade has even commenced. The point is that the festivities this year seems to be somewhat muted. I wonder if this is a reflection of the general mood of Singaporeans. We have good reasons to be apprehensive about our future. Like, for example, socio-economic changes and uncertainties.
Yet, looking back, Singapore has come a long way and certainly achieved remarkable success in many areas. The challenge, of course, is in what has yet to come.
Happy 48th National Day, Singapore!
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