National Day Parade, 2005

The National Day Parade, 2005 (NDP) was a national ceremony in Singapore on August 9, 2005 to commemorate Singapore's 40 years of independence.

In addition to the military-style parade, other celebrative events, such as the Mobile Column, fireworks and community carnivals were also organised during the period.

The theme for NDP 2005 was "40 Years of Nation Building".

Venue


The main parade was held in Padang, the same place where the first National Day Parade was held in 1966.

Pre-parade Segment
Before the main parade, there was an hour long entertainment at the Padang including performances from the combined schools choir and the combined schools band. Other events included a mass precision drill and a skydiving display by the "Red Lions" team from the SAF.

Three NDP community songs were designated for the pre-parade segment entertainment
 * We Can
 * Sing Our Wishes
 * Uniquely You

The music composer and director was Elaine Chan.

Emcees
Six local celebrities were assigned as emcees:
 * Gurmit Singh
 * Sharon Au
 * Adrian Pang
 * Kym Ng
 * Khiruddin Saharom
 * Vernetta Lopez

Motivators
In addition, 300 students from Institute of Technical Education served as "NDP 2005 Motivators" as they interacted with the audiences and performed a special dance called the "Dance Number 40".

Combined schools choir
It was a 400 strong choir comprising students from 15 different schools.
 * Bendemeer Secondary School
 * Crescent Girls' School
 * Damai Secondary School
 * Geylang Methodist Secondary School
 * Henderson Secondary School
 * Hua Yi Secondary School
 * Jurongville Secondary School
 * Kent Ridge Secondary School
 * Marsiling Secondary School
 * Ngee Ann Secondary School
 * North Vista Secondary School
 * Orchid Park Secondary School
 * Peirce Secondary School
 * Westwood Secondary School
 * Yusof Ishak Secondary School

The choreographer was Andrew Ng.

Combined schools band
The 256 strong combined schools band comprised students from 4 different schools.
 * Bowen Secondary School
 * Pingyi Secondary School
 * Springfield Secondary School
 * Yishun Town Secondary School

The choreographer was Lawrence Siao.

Mass Precision Drill


The Mass Precision Drill comprised members from
 * the Singapore Armed Forces Provost Unit
 * the National Cadet Corps (NCC)
 * the Singapore Police Force Women Pipes and Drums
 * members of various Boys' Brigade bagpipe bands, collectively termed the "Singapore Boys' Brigade Bagpipers".

The precision drill display included participation by female NCC Cadets. The choreographer and trainer for the performance was 2WO Rosman Bin Atan.

Parade
The parade was military-styled, displaying precision and discipline.

Parade Sequence

 * 1) Fifes and drums
 * 2) Parade march-in
 * 3) Arrival of the President
 * 4) National anthem, fly-past of state flag
 * 5) Presidential inspection and presidential 21-gun salute
 * 6) Feu de joie (Fire of Joy)
 * 7) Guards-of-honour march-past
 * 8) Parade finale transformation

Full Order

 * Parade Commander: LTC Choon Soon Onn, Dy CO, 185 SQN
 * Reserve Parade Commander: LTC Neil Alan Dyason
 * Parade Regimental Sergeant Major: MWO Tang Peck Onn, BDE SM 23 SIB (Currently SMA)
 * Reserve Parade Regimental Sergeant Major:

Parade Colour Guards

 * Colours Regimental Sergeant Major (SAF Colours Party): 1WO Shamssudin bin Isnin
 * Reserve Colours Regimental Sergeant Major (SAF Colours Party): 1WO Lawrence Jeremiah
 * Colours Regimental Sergeant Major (Singapore Army):
 * Colours Regimental Sergeant Major (Republic of Singapore Navy):
 * Colours Regimental Sergeant Major (Republic of Singapore Air Force):

Guard-of-Honour Contingent Commanders

 * Singapore Army (1st Commando Battalion, Singapore Armed Forces Commando Formation):
 * Republic of Singapore Navy:
 * Republic of Singapore Air Force:
 * Singapore Police Force:

Supporting Contingents
Military and Civil Defense
 * Representative Company of the Singapore Army
 * Representative Company of the Republic of Singapore Navy
 * Representative Company of the Republic of Singapore Air Force
 * Representative Company of the Singapore Police Force
 * Representative Company of the Singapore Civil Defence Force

Political and Civil
 * People's Action Party

Uniform Groups and Youth Organizations
 * National Cadet Corps (Land, Sea and Air)
 * National Police Cadet Corps
 * National Civil Defence Cadet Corps
 * Singapore Red Cross (Red Cross Youth)
 * St. John Ambulance Brigade
 * Boys' Brigade
 * Girls' Brigade
 * Girl Guides Singapore
 * The Singapore Scout Association

Guard of Honour
The Guard of Honour comprised four contingents:
 * 1) Singapore Army, represented by 1st Commando Battalion
 * 2) Republic of Singapore Navy, represented by Naval Diving Unit
 * 3) Republic of Singapore Air Force, represented by Combined Field Squadron
 * 4) Singapore Police Force, represented by Singapore Police Training Command

Supporting contingents

 * 1) Singapore Army - Singapore Guards
 * 2) Republic of Singapore Navy - HQ Fleet, NALCOM, COSCOM and TRACOM
 * 3) Republic of Singapore Air Force - Paya Lebar Air Base, Sembawang Air base, Tengah Air Base
 * 4) Singapore Civil Defence Force
 * 5) Singapore Police Force - Key Installation Unit
 * 6) People's Action Party
 * 7) National Trade Union Congress
 * 8) Ministry of Health
 * 9) Modern Montessori International
 * 10) National Cadet Corps
 * 11) National Police Cadet Corps
 * 12) Singapore Scout Association
 * 13) Girl Guides Singapore
 * 14) The Boys Brigade of Singapore
 * 15) The Girls Brigade of Singapore
 * 16) St John Ambulance
 * 17) Singapore Red Cross Society

Aerial Display
The parade featured aerial display involving a total of 44 RSAF aircraft, of 8 different aircraft types including the refueling tanker KC-135 Stratotanker which was making its maiden appearance at NDP. The F-16 Fighting Falcons led the aerial display, and at one time flew very low at 500 metres above ground, at about half the speed of sound. 

The aerial display was divided into 3 flypast windows:


 * 1) State flag flypast
 * 2) Bomb-burst during the Presidential salute
 * 3) Final flypast

Final flypast
The final flypast involved 3 CH-47 Super D Chinooks and 2 AS332 Super Puma helicopters followed by a C-130 Hercules,a Fokker F50 and a Grumman E-2C Hawkeye and behind it was a KC-135R escorted by 4 F-5S/T Tiger II and the last few planes was 5 F-16D Block 52+ Fighting Falcons from 145 squadron performing stunts.

Mobile column
The Mobile Column was a featured event in National Day Parade, 2005

The Mobile Column was the parade of vehicles and other hardwares from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force.

The first Mobile Column was organised in 1969 which displayed the then newly acquired armour vehicles of the SAF. In 1990, after an absence of 20 years, the Mobile Column made a come back as Singapore celebrated its 25th years of independence. Since then, it has been a special feature during National Day Parade for every 5 years.

Show segment
Act 1 - The Beginning

Participants from
 * Chua Chu Kang Secondary School
 * Catholic Junior College
 * 3rd Signal Battalion (SAF)

ASTIC is proud to contribute to this significant event by producing a 1 min multimedia display on Singapore Legend. This clip was telecast on Mediacorp TV Singapore as an introduction to the Show segment (Act 1 - The Beginning).

Sang Nila Utama, also known as Sri Tri Buana, is a legendary prince who founded Singapore in ancient history.

Click here to watch Act 1

Act 2 - 40 Years of Nation Building

Participants from
 * People's Association

Act 3 - Soaring to Greater Heights

Participants from
 * Singapore Soka Association

Grand Finale - The Future is Ours To Make

Community celebration
Besides the national events, local celebration events (named as Celebration@Heartlands) were also being organized in major residential regions throughout the country, including Tampines, Yishun and Jurong East. There was also a 9-day carnival at Marina South (named as Carnival@Marina) featuring fun-fair, concerts and fireworks.

Floats
The events included a parade of 12 floats with decorations reflecting the history of Singapore, including themes related to Sang Nila Utama, Sir Stamford Raffles and Samsui woman.

Songs

 * 1) Paduuvoom Vaaruungal
 * 2) Geylang Sipaku Geylang
 * 3) Chan Mali Chan
 * 4) Di Tanjong Katong
 * 5) Jia, 家 (Home)
 * 6) One United People
 * 7) One People, One Nation, One Singapore
 * 8) Home
 * 9) We are Singapore
 * 10) We Can
 * 11) Sing Our Wishes
 * 12) Dance No 40 (Dance Version)
 * 13) Uniquely You
 * 14) Reach Out For The Skies (English)
 * 15) Reach Out For The Skies (Chinese) 勇敢向前飞

It can be found in YouTube.

Schedule
NDP @ Marina Bay 2005 Programme schedule on 9 August 2005:

9 August (National Day) 10 August
 * 0000 hrs - Groundbreaking Established
 * 0600 hrs - Sign-on a National anthem
 * 0601 hrs - Completed
 * 0800 hrs - News on Channel 8 : Morning News
 * 0805 hrs - National Day
 * 0900 hrs - News on Channel 8 : Morning News
 * 0905 hrs - News Coverage Buletin Actual Special Report Live National Day
 * 1000 hrs - Opened Completed National flag an National anthem
 * 1001 hrs - Declaration of Independence
 * 1002 hrs - Ceremony Marches of National Day
 * 1200 hrs - Ceremony Marches of Singapore Police Department
 * 1300 hrs - News on Channel 8 : Midday News
 * 1400 hrs - Ceremony Marches of Drum Band
 * 1700 hrs - Renovated
 * 1800 hrs - Parade & Ceremony
 * 1801 hrs - Opening Ceremony
 * 1830 hrs - News on Channel 8 : Singapore Today
 * 1900 hrs - Closed Returned National flag an National anthem
 * 1901 hrs - Show
 * 2000 hrs - News on Suria : Berita
 * 2030 hrs - News on Vasantham Central : Vasantham Tamil News
 * 2100 hrs - News on Channel NewsAsia International : Primetime News
 * 2100 hrs - News on Channel U : News Business at 9:00 pm
 * 2130 hrs - News on Channel 5 : News 5 Tonight
 * 2200 hrs - News on Channel 8 : News in Mandarin
 * 2300 hrs - News on Channel U : News International at 11:00 pm
 * 2300 hrs - Singapore National Day 2005 (National anthem)
 * 2301 hrs - Crowd at National flag
 * 0000 hrs - President
 * 0100 hrs - Closing Ceremony
 * 0101 hrs - Sign-off a National anthem

All times indicated are Singapore Standard Time.

Television channels
As a national event, the parade was broadcast "Live" from 12.00 am to 12.00 am (SST) across MediaCorp for MediaCorp TV channels which include MediaCorp TV Channel 5, MediaCorp TV TVMobile, MediaCorp TV Channel 8, MediaCorp TV Channel U, MediaCorp TV12 Suria, MediaCorp TV12 Vasantham, MediaCorp TV12 okto and MediaCorp News Channel NewsAsia International. The commentary on MediaCorp TV Channel 5, MediaCorp TV TVMobile, MediaCorp TV12 Central (MediaCorp TV12 Kids Central and MediaCorp TV12 Arts Central) and MediaCorp News Channel NewsAsia International was in English, MediaCorp TV Channel 8 and MediaCorp TV Channel U in Mandarin, MediaCorp TV12 Suria in Malaysian and MediaCorp TV12 Vasantham Central in Tamil.

Radio
MediaCorp Radio stations covered the parade "Live" over 938LIVE, Capital 95.8FM, Ria 89.7FM, Lush 99.5FM and Oli 96.8FM in English, Mandarin, Malaysian and Tamil respectively.

Online
"Live" webcast would also be available on the official NDP website, MediaCorp NDP webpage and Channel NewsAsia Live.

Outdoor Digital Media
'Live' screenings of the parade was available on the outdoor digital screens managed by MediaCorp at ION Orchard and Orchard Central malls. Digital media screens managed by SPH MediaBoxOffice in 313@Somerset and HDB Hub also screened the parade "Live.

Other celebrations

 * Channel NewsAsia organised a video contest called "The Singapore, I Want".
 * A special collection of minted stamps, named "Proudly Singapore" was issued to commemorate the history of Singapore.
 * There was a National Day Relay with over 600 runners. The relay started from the three heartland locations, Tampines, Jurong East and Yishun and there was 8 to 10 change-over points with each relay leg covering a distance of 2–3 km. The runners, carrying flags representing various participating organisations, will make their entry into the Padang as part of the pre-Parade segment.
 * 110,000 NDP funpacks was given out to spectators and participants at the NDP, previews, and heartland venues. Each funpack contains a commemorative CD, tambourine, whistle, flags, torch-light and NDP stickers.