COMMENT: Why NDP 2016 at the Sports Hub isn’t a bad choice
(Yahoo Singapore file photo)
By Ian De Cotta
No Red Lions. No armoured mobile columns. No view of the fireworks.
The 2016 National Day Parade (NDP) at the National Stadium has ignited some fireworks of its own.
Critics have been up in arms about the organisers’ choice of the Sports Hub for the nation’s biggest extravaganza and demanded that it should not be held there in future.
Some of them have gone so far as to suggest the cost of holding the NDP at the Sports Hub was $10 million but the actual cost is much lower. Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen addressed this point in Parliament on 29 February 2016 when he said the venue cost is 15 per cent of the overall $39.4 million NDP budget. This works out to be a little under $6 million.
The structural design of the Sports Hub is a key factor behind the NDP 2016 programme. Its domed roof has to be closed to execute some of the acts and certain crowd favourites have to make way.
So there will be no parachutists, fireworks and armoured mobile columns, just like in 1976, 1980 and 1985 at the old National Stadium.
Fireworks only made a debut at the 1984 NDP at the Padang. The Republic of Singapore Air Force’s Red Lions appeared for the first time in 1989. Heavy armoured vehicles were not featured at the 14 NDPs at Kallang as stadium tracks were never made for such a purpose.
The three NDP items have traditionally made the celebration of the nation’s birthday an unforgettable experience. They exemplify what a small nation wants to say at every independence day after many had written off our chances of survival beyond 1965: that we are flying high and will continue to do so.
While their absence this year has irked some, the organisers knew from the start that to execute a theme about the future, holding the NDP at the futuristic Sports Hub is the only way that they can get the job done.
Brigadier General (BG) Kenneth Liow, chairman of the NDP 2016 executive committee, alluded as much to this earlier in March.
“This year marks the first of the next 50 years of our Singapore story,” BG Liow, who is also the Chief Armour Officer, told the media. “We wanted a theme that is more futuristic and addresses the Singapore of tomorrow.”
The chairman of the NDP Show committee, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Jason See, said, “We’ve taken a bold and innovative approach to refresh the show experience.”
This year’s programme comes with 3D projection, real-time tracking and unmanned systems, 1,000 show lights, 66 high-definition projectors, 36 high-powered lasers and an enhanced sound system.
One act tells a 14th century tale from the Malay annals about Badang and the Singapore Stone, and it ends with a mythical unicorn riding towards the roof and dancers executing a routine while suspended in mid-air.
Replicating this level of sophistication at the Padang and the Marina Bay would cost much more than $6 million. Using the stadium to deliver this new experience reduces costs for the organisers.
The NDP 2016 executive committee, led by the Headquarters Armour, deserves kudos for not just having the same boldness and spirit of innovation as modern Singapore’s founders but also for their fiscal discipline.
In staging a theme on Singapore in the next 50 years at the Sports Hub, they were not intimidated by the NDP’s past successes and chose to eschew a proven template. It takes guts in a country that can have a very unforgiving environment for mavericks. But venturing without fear is the only way forward if we are to continue to succeed as a nation.
The attendance level is also much bigger at the new National Stadium. An estimated 275,000 people are expected to catch the NDP live at the rehearsals, previews and on National Day. This is twice more than when it was hosted at the Padang and the Marina Bay Floating Platform previously. Whenever the parade is held at the new National Stadium, 275,000 more people get to see the show without getting wet or sunburnt.
Since its opening two years ago, it is mostly sports fans who visit the National Stadium and facilities around it. NDP 2016 offers the opportunity for a wider group of people to experience the venue firsthand. Despite the criticism the Sports Hub has received, and deservedly so, it is still a great and futuristic sports complex.
Sure, the absence of fireworks, the Red Lions and an armoured mobile column may seem like a letdown at first, but elements like these will return when the Padang and Floating Platform get their turn to host the parade again.
NDP 2016 at the Sports Hub is an invitation to an adventurous sampling of something new. Great success stories are made out of treading into the unknown — and Singaporeans, more than others, should know this.
Ian De Cotta is a media consultant and former senior correspondent at Today. The views expressed here are his own.
Note: An earlier version of this article was corrected to reflect that this year’s NDP organisers are Headquarters Armour, and not the Singapore Armoured Regiment.
