NDP: A Postscript
So the fireworks have died down, they've finally stopped playing 'Home' ad nauseum, the National Stadium stands empty, bereft of the crowds that once thronged its old and cracked benches.
Take
re-minesce for example. In his
National Day-related post, he summed up my own thoughts very nicely when he said:
"National day ought to be a day when the people are proud - of the country. Of the humble, faceless layman. Of our past, and our present - and our futures. Our one minute of glory to the people that make the country WORK. And not just the men in white - without the support of the sheep, the system would collapse. Celebrities mean nothing to the economy. And Jack Neo's little piece on perpetuation of the arts is... cough. I'll reserve comment.
Sure, that moblog thing is an interesting idea.
But honestly - go click the links above.
How many of them can actually write?
What is the POINT of a celebrity moblog when all the pseudo-celebrity writes is "I wish I could update more often, but I'm too busy."
I cast my eye around the web, and behold - there are SO MANY Singaporean blogs out there. Hundreds upon thousands. Some of them can actually string words together into mini masterpieces.
Shouldn't national day recognise these usually hidden faces behind the pearls they produce out of their everyday, mundane lives?
Instead, we have the winner of the mydreamd8 competition (no offence, Janice) doing her best to represent the blogging community at large - and well. She's sweet, and she's trying her best, and I'm sure if I knew her in real life I'd be charmed.
But there's more to Singaporean bloggers than Janice.
I think the organisers got it all wrong. They shouldn't have "handpicked" top-blogs (through whatever social network they used to form their pool of candidates) which, quite honestly, are mostly rubbish, or just cute piccys of housepets or other snippets of celebrity life which, well, are interesting enough but not enough.
They should have set up a team to search the web for Singaporean weblogs - as many as possible -- and linked them ALL.
They could have categorised them, into advanced writers, and into daily bloggers, into reads of merit, and reads of substance - whatever. They could have done so, so much more.
Instead, we have a pale reflection of mydreamd8, with every "blogger" using a standardised template, and comments functions becoming blatant money rakers for Singtel. Every "blogger" there is really just Singtel's whore -- I wonder how they came up with that idea?
So some people will still read them, and ooh and ah.
But where is the pride? Where is Singapore??
Likewise, the whole National Day Parade thingie.
What's with all the boys in uniform twirling their big weapons around? And kiddies walking around a 400m track??
Is that meant to be some Brazilian carnival idea gone horribly wrong? Let's make it secure. Instead of having floats and a carnival meandering down the streets, let's make it simple - we'll put it all in a stadium. Make them walk around a track a few times.
I do think there's a role for a parade, and if the best we can do is a hemmed-in stageshow, then well and fine. Every country has it's parading of the colours. The Queen inspects the guard.
But the NDP shouldn't BE national day. It should just be one of the many things happening on national day."
After sleeping through most of NDP, and waking up only when the fireworks began, I concur wholeheartedly.
Is that all that National Day has come down to? Is that all we've got to offer? Where's the celebrating in the streets? The festivals? The carnivals and impromptu street parades and parties? The media crew filming the average Singaporean on the street, asking him about his views on celebrating another year of independence?
It almost seems as if NDP is the best we can offer as a celebration. Oh c'mon. I don't know about you, but after watching the same old thing year in, year out, seeing the usual military parade, the 21-gun salute, some song-and-dance routine, I can't help but feel jaded by it all.
And it's not as if every one of the past 22 National Days I have lived through has been spent in front of the idiot box. I've been actively involved in 2 NDPs so far, once during JC1 (1999- I was a cheerleader), and another time in NS (2002- I was part of the 'sai kang' party). I've been through countless rehearsals, burnt countless weekends, toiled under the hot sun, ate KFC and SFI food until I was thoroughly sick and tired of it, felt the same rush of pride and joy when singing the National Anthem at the close of the celebrations.
Yet, when I take a step back and look upon it all, all I see are just empty and hollow festivities and ceremonies, a showcase of military might and power, schoolchildren and various associations coerced into putting up with long days under the hot sun to put up some old song-and-dance routine to boost our ego and to remind us of how far Singapore has progressed from a sleepy seaside village to the global hub that it is today.
To me, NDP has become way overblown and way overrated. True, we all like to feel good about ourselves sometimes, to give ourselves a congratulatory handshake at having made it this far and having succeeded beyond all odds, but to do it for so many years is starting to feel a little stale. And frankly, to me NDP has become but a showcase of how much money and manpower the organising committee has at its disposal, a platform where schools vie for top honours in contributing towards development of co-curricular activities (though sometimes I do wonder whether the schoolchildren actually have any say in whether they want to endure all the hard work and effort or not), where the SAF parades its military might and shows off some of its hardware, as well as showing our neighbours that we are not to be trifled with.
This is how the typical NDP goes:
Blablabla welcome to the National Stadium/ Padang yada yada if you look to the sky you will see the Red Lions blablabla watch the commandos rappel down and see the Guards Lightstrike and SCDF Red Rhino vehicles going round and round the track oh time for a mass unarmed combat display waffle pfiffle phoom watch the parade contingent come-a marching in the various civilian contingents foom foom pfiffle faff uniformed groups... lalalalala... representing the 5 arms of Total Defence... gobble gobble goop goop... choir sings at least one Tamil, one Malay and one Mandarin song, blablabla welcome the ministers of Parliament blablabla please rise for the arrival of the Prime Minister blablabla please rise for the arrival of the President blablabla rise for the national anthem blablabla look up to the sky you can see 5 Super Skyhawks yada yada presidential inspection blablabla 21-gun salute President stands in ceremonial landrover that goes round the track and starts waving at everyone blablablabla feu-de-joie blablabla parade contingent fall out song and dance segment coming up yadayada waffle look how far Singapore has progressed into a vibrant society ready to face the challenges ahead blablabla FIREWORKS! More singing and dancing! MORE FIREWORKS! Recite pledge, sing national anthem, President takes his leave, YET MORE FIREWORKS! Good night, and everyone leaves the National Stadium, only to get caught in the mother of all traffic jams.
What else is new??
Enough already. There's only so many ways you can spice up and add variations to the same old thing. No matter how much you add garnishing, put slices of lemon on top or cover it all in whipped cream and cherries or pour chocolate sauce all over it, if the cake is stale, it will still be stale, no matter what you do to it (Gee that made me feel hungry).
And I'm absolutely fed up with all this remixing and remaking of National Day songs. Oh, come on, yes, be creative, but doing a hip-hop or techno version of Home or any other National Day song is just plain distasteful and revolting. (Yes, no matter how crazy I am about techno music, there are some songs that should just never be techno-fied) You can accuse me of being purist, but hey, I like my National Day songs the old-fashioned style.
I'm not the sort to read too deeply into things, but I feel that NDP itself perhaps reflects the mentality of Singaporeans at large: desiring to be creative and unique, and yet still very much wanting to conform to the norm. Just look at the displays. What do you see? Mass synchronised displays. Military precision. Everything is rehearsed over and over again until perfection is achieved. There is no room for error. Everything has to be precise, on the dot, synchronised. Even in those years, when they tried to be creative and had hip-hop dancers and graffiti artists on stage, those were still kept under control; they were restricted to a section of the stage itself. Heck, I think the only thing spontaneous and random about NDP itself is the attack of the giant beach balls, or perhaps when they release balloons en masse into the sky.
Where's the spontaneity in that? The passion? The freedom to express yourself creatively, to break beyond the boundaries? I'm not asking for NDP to degenerate into a mass display of anarchy, and shows of synchronicity and precision are very appealing indeed, but after a while there's just this sense of a lack of individualism, that one is but a solitary cog in this gargantuan well-oiled machine.
And sticking to a tried-and-tested formula, as the committee did this year, didn't prove to be very exciting. In fact, apart from minor details, this year's NDP was an almost exact mirror of NDP '02. Yes, the commandos rappelling down the grandstand were there in 2002, and so were the Lightstrikes and Red Rhinos. And yes, even the huge balloon was featured in '02. So there. Where's the originality? Where's the adventure? Where's the risk-taking, the receptivity to new ideas?
In fact, I dare say that NDP '02 was more exciting than this year's display. Perhaps I'm just biased, especially since I experienced NDP '02 in the flesh, but this year's NDP left me rather unimpressed.
In NDPs of years gone by, there were several moments that I felt were quite novel and reflected some really good ideas. These included:
1) In 1999, there was a segment where there were various performers with cold fireworks strapped to their backs. A real feast for the eyes, and a prelude to the dazzling fireworks display later that night, if I may say so.
2) In 2000 (I think), they had an entire convoy of military vehicles parade down the streets, travelling through the neighbourhoods. People flocked to the roadsides to get a chance to come close to our best military hardware. And hey, talk about bringing the parade to those at home watching the parade on TV.
These, among many others which I can't really recall right now, reflected refreshing and new ways to spice up the parade, to stop it from becoming too stale and mundane.
I have a few ideas of my own:
1) Rig up fireworks in neighbourhoods
throughout Singapore, and synchronise the timings such that they go off along with those going off over Kallang. Bring the parade to the
sheep general populace, those who couldn't watch it live in the National Stadium. People don't have to flock all the way to Kallang just to watch fireworks. Let the entire island be ablaze in fireworks displays.
2) Have street parties and carnivals. Make it a time for people to just let their hair down and celebrate in the streets. Have a free flow of non-alcoholic drinks. Anyone can join in, young or old, cosmopolitan or heartlander, rich or poor. Don't let the celebrations and festivities be limited to Kallang; bring the joy and pride into the heartlands.
3) And running concurrently with all the celebrations, put up exhibitions. Talk about the achievements of some of our founding fathers, to let the younger generations know about our nation's formative years. The tumultous years, the Communist insurgency, the push for independence, the fateful merger and then separation with Malaysia, these are but dates and figures in the History textbooks. Let the children rediscover their roots, the struggles in our nation's early years, and how they alone hold the key to a brighter future. (Yah, I know. Time for
PAP propaganda National Education... But seriously, apathy and ignorance of even basic facts is no excuse.)
I could think of a few more, but it's late, and I'm sleepy. And no, I do not aspire to work for the PAP. Politics just isn't my cup of tea.
But I do think that NDP has lost its lustre, that it has become a mere formality, that it has come to be synonymised with the very idea of National Day itself.
Hands up, all of you who think NDP is in dire need of a revamp.
