If I wasn't so busy at work lately, and the plane seats were a bit more certain, I would have headed off to Singapore to be there on its 60th anniversary National Day this Saturday.
Instead, I will just watch the National Day Parade live on CNA via Youtube - and I would encourage anyone with a curiosity about the way nationalism and social unity can be "done right" to do the same. I mean, I am generally leery of patriotism; but in the case of Singapore, it had to make a big effort from the start to ensure the multicultural society would work, and tying it to a patriotic appeal to take pride in making a poor tiny country rich, secure and safe has really worked.
So, the National Day Parade (which I have watched in previous years) has elements of pure self soothing propaganda, about which I sometimes have a bit of a cringe laugh because it can be so unsubtle. But mostly, I find myself deeply impressed, and quite often somewhat touched, by the intensity of the effort towards promoting unity, especially in the slickly produced songs and dance, which can feature a multicultural cast of scores of people, if not hundreds. Perhaps you have to watch to understand. Technically, my almost sentimental admiration for the country can't be because I was a Singaporean in a past live - I was here before it existed!
The day ends with a very "you will be patriotic!" kind of thing:
SINGAPORE - The public warning system will sound at 8.19pm on Aug 9, as a signal for Singaporeans to recite the pledge and sing the National Anthem, wherever they may be on National Day.
The “all clear” signal will sound for 10 seconds, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force on Aug 6.
This marks the Majulah Moment at the end of the National Day Parade,which will take place at the Padang and Marina Bay
Again, I find that a little bit funny, and a little bit impressive.
Such a shame I won't make it...
No comments:
Post a Comment