National Day Parade

The National Day Parade (Abbreviation: NDP, Chinese: ????, Malay: Perbarisan Hari Kebangsa'an) is a national ceremony in Singapore that, as its name implies, includes a parade on Singapore's national day on August 9, in commemoration of Singapore's independence usually in the Singapore National Stadium or Padang.

History of NDP

Singapore celebrated her first National Day in 1966, one year after Singapore's independence from Malaysia on 9 August 1965.

Related Topics:
National Day - 1966 - Singapore - Malaysia - 1965

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The first National Day Parade started in the morning at 0900. People came as early as 0700 in order to get good vantage points. Singapore's first President, Mr Yusof bin Ishak and Singapore's first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, were seated with members of the government at the grandstand on the steps of City Hall.

Related Topics:
Singapore - President - Yusof bin Ishak - Lee Kuan Yew - City Hall

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Over the years, the parade has become the biggest national event in Singapore. What is perhaps most memorable at each celebration is the fireworks display marking the climax of the parade; the sky would be bursting with the wonderful colors of the visual vista, dazzling it as well as the hearts of fellow Singaporeans. On this very special occasion, most Singaporeans would be decked out in patriotic colors - namely, red and white.

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The Parade has gained enormous popularity and support from the people that it is not unusual to find massive number of citizens trying to get their hands on a ticket, which is released free-of-charge. In the past, it has been known that people would arrive hours before the ticket booths even open, such as the one in 1998, where some arrived as early as 36 hours before the actual release of tickets.

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This proved to be problematic for obvious reasons and as such, the government set up the e-balloting ticketing system in 2003, in order to tackle the problem of overcrowding and possible problems that might result. Such ticketing system enables citizens to stand a chance at winning the tickets by registering their e-mail addresses or mobile numbers at the NDP website or phonelines.

Related Topics:
E-balloting - 2003

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