National Day Parade, 2006

The National Day Parade, 2006 (NDP) was a national ceremony held on 9 August 2006 at the National Stadium to commemorate Singapore's 41st year of independence. The event will be the last parade to be held at the old stadium, as it will be slated for demolition in 2007. The parade will therefore be located at Marina Bay on a floating pavilion, until the new stadium is completed. Besides military events, events such as singing, drama, dance items put up by various organisations, fireworks, other entertainment programmes were organised during the National Day period.

Venue
National Day Parade has been held at the National Stadium since 1976, but has been at Padang, once in every three years, before 1995 and five after 1995. The event will be held at the stadium for the last time before its due for being torn down. The parade will be held at the new stadium when it is completed.

Logo
The parade's logo for the 2006 celebrations embraces the theme "Our Global City, Our Home". The logo depicts a globe with a red island of Singapore as its focal point. Multi-coloured brushstrokes demonstrates the nation's vibrancy as a country, with the merging of different colours onto an icon connotes the nation's unity and harmony as multi-racial and multi-religious society. The brushstrokes are supposed to give the logo an Asian feel and while Singapore is becoming a global city, the people must not forget their history and Asian values. The black font is meant to show the state's boldness and that Singapore is looking forward in shaping the future of the nation.

Pre-parade segment
Live bands such as Electrico and John Molina and Krueger, the combined schools choir, a skydiving performance by the "Red Lions", Deyi Secondary School Band and a martial arts display.

Emcees
The emcees this year are:
 * Gurmit Singh
 * Sheikh Haikel
 * Jean Danker
 * Jeremy Ratnam
 * For the first time, Michelle Chia and Rosalyn Lee

Motivators
400 motivators from Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will hype the spectators up for the celebrations. They will be leading the spectators in a series of cheers, songs and also getting them acquainted with their funpacks. They will give away goodies too!

Combined Schools Choir
The choir at the National Day Parade this year consists of over 800 students from 16 secondary schools. They will sing and dance to a medly of songs like "Absolutely Everybody" and "Free" during the pre parade segment and “小人物的心声” (Xiao Ren Wu De Xin Sheng), "Singapur Entru", "Semogia Bahagia" and the theme song "My Island Home".
 * Bedok Green Secondary School
 * Bedok South Secondary School
 * CHIJ Saint Joseph's Convent
 * CHIJ Saint Theresa's Convent
 * Christ Church Secondary School
 * First Toa Payoh Secondary School
 * Ghim Moh Secondary School
 * Hai Sing Catholic School
 * Guangyang Secondary School
 * Manjusri Secondary School
 * Nan Chiau High School
 * Pei Cai Secondary School
 * Seng Kang Secondary School
 * Saint Andrew's Secondary School
 * Unity Secondary School
 * Yio Chu Kang Secondary School
 * Zhenghua Secondary School

The conductor was Sharon Cheong, while the movements were choreographed by Sylvia McCully.

Martial Arts Display
The martial arts display is entitled "Youth In Action", choreographed by Vincent Ng, performed by students from Rulang Primary School, soldiers from the Singapore Armed Forces as well as the choreographer himself.

Parade and Ceremony
The parade and ceremony segment consists of the following:

Parade Commander: Lieutenant-Colonel Neil Alan Dyason

Reserve Parade Commander: Lieutenant-Colonel (NS) See Tow Pak Onn

Parade Sergeant Major: Master Warrant Officer Tamalingam M Muthu

Reserve Parade Sergeant Major: Master Warrant Officer Eric Chong Chee Yee

Guard-of-Honour Contingents: Army (1st Commando Battalion), RSN (Naval Diving Unit), RSAF (Combined Field Defence Squadrons), Police Force (Combined Police Units)

Band-in-Attendance: Singapore Armed Forces Central Band and Singapore Police Force Band

Non Military Organisations
 * National Trade Union Congress
 * People's Action Party
 * PropNex Corporation Pte Ltm,
 * Motorola Electronics Pte Ltd


 * Uniform Groups:
 * National Police Cadet Corps
 * National Cadet Corps
 * St. John Ambulance in Singapore
 * Boys Brigade
 * Girls Brigade
 * The Singapore Scout Association
 * Girl Guides Singapore
 * Singapore Red Cross Society

Aerial display
The Apache helicopter did the flyover with the Singapore flag as the National Anthem was played,while the F-16 fighter jets performed a low pass above the main parade and stadium.

Show segment
These are the names of the performances (from first to last) during the show segments:

Our City of Colours: Performed by 970 performers from the People's Association and various other organisations, including Tanglin Secondary School

Our Island Of Opportunities: Performed by 1350 performers from Singapore Soka Association, The Dream Engine, SAF Military Police Command, Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Police Force.

Our Nation Of Hopes And Dreams: Performed by 930 performers from Nan Hua High School and a team of professional tap dancers.

Grand Finale-Our Global City, Our Home

Songs
The official theme song of the National Day Parade was sung by upcoming Mandarin pop singer Kaira Gong, known as "My Island Home". The song was composed by local composer Joshua Wan. Other songs which will be sung during this year's National Day Parade are: “小人物的心声” (Xiao Ren Wu De Xin Sheng) by Chen Wei Lian, winner of Channel U's Project Superstar 2005, "Singapur Entru" by Mohamed Shabir, winner of Vasantham Central's Vasantham Star 2005, and lastly "Semoga Bahagia", a popular Malay song sung during children's day, by Khairul Anuar, winner of Suria's Anugerah 2005.

Fireworks
Unlike other National Day Parades, this year's parade will feature fireworks at the start, the middle and the end of the parade. The show will start with fireworks and will go as high as 80m into the sky for about a minute. The stadium will transform into a giant birthday cake with forty-one candles, signifying the nation's 41st birthday. The last few rows at the stadium will be cordoned off for safety reasons. In the middle of the parade, colourful fireworks will be launched from the middle of the stadium during the Provost display. The finale will be the grandest part of the display, spanning three minutes of fireworks display and a traditional item at all National Day Parades. They are expected to rise to a height of 250 metres into the sky, allowing people not in the vicinity to view the fireworks. The fireworks are launched 200 metres away from the stadium, where Nicoll Highway and Mountbatten Road will be closed during the fireworks ceremony.

To launch the fireworks, it takes around eight men launch a crate and each of them is unique, packed with individualised fireworks. The fireworks cues are coded into a digital code and it is overlaid onto the music that is being played during the parade. If the digital system fails, there is a manual voice back-up to ensure the volunteers can still control the fireworks.

Flags
The national flag has always been hung outside resident's homes annually during the period of time. However, putting flags on vehicles were prohibited at all times. The Government allowed flags to be flown on taxis, buses and private vehicles. 10,000 taxis and 2,500 buses from ComfortDelGro (Citycab, Comfort Taxi and SBS Transit) have been selected to fly a mini version of the nation's flag on it. Private vehicles are also allowed to fly mini flags or put stickers featuring the nation's flag on their vehicles.

Security
The National Day Parade is most unlikely to be attacked by chemicals or bombs, but the Singapore Civil Defence Force has prepared bases outside the stadium to take precautions. Evacuation routes have been planned and if such an attack happens, spectators are able to evacuate in an orderly manner. Sharp items such as knives and scissors will not be allowed into the stadium and will be confiscated. For security reasons, X-ray scanners and metal detectors have been put in place at the stadium.