Tuesday 14 August 2007

Parades, Flags and Mobile Phones

Last Thursday, 9th August was Singapore National Day and hence a Public Holiday. With formal 'independence' from Malaysia in 1965, this is the 42nd annual celebration. The main event is the parade which even has it's own website using this year's tagline "City of Possibilities".

It's hard to judge the significance. There was a lot of civic decorations put up, bunting along the roads, billboards and posters. On the day itself, there were people dressing for the part with NDP t-shirts and washable tattoos of the national flag. At work, some people expressed pride and excitement, others just kept working. I didn't attend the parades and I don't watch TV but I could have seen a video-cast on my mobile phone or accessed webcams via the Internet.

The Prime Minister's speech seemed on-message and non-controversial citing prosperity, good governance and attention to social cohesiveness.

Most importantly, it taught me that Thursdays are the best choice for a Public Holiday. You get a short 3 day stint, a holiday, a dress-down, go-home-early Friday and then a weekend. Perfect.

0 comments: