Singapore celebrated its first National Day in 1966, one year after Singapore 's independence from Malaysia on August 9th 1965. But how much do we actually know about Singapore 's first ever national day?

The first National Day Parade commenced in the morning of August 9 th 1966 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. Those were uncertain times but it was commented that during that first ever national day, Singaporeans, for the first time in a long while, came together as one and showed themselves willing to struggle on for Singapore's survival.

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 colours - namely, red and white.

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 the tickets, which are released free-of-charge. In the past, it has been known that people would arrive hours before the ticket booths even opened, such as the one in 1998, when some arrived as early as 36 hours before the actual release of tickets.

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 further potential 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 phone lines. The youth in Singapore also celebrate national day annually in Singapore by holding parades and performances in schools all across the length and breadth of the nation to celebrate the nation's birthday.

-Dinesh Nair (07A6) and Tong Xun Jie (07S2)

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