I thoroughly enjoyed the National Day show at the Marina Float, especially the military hardware part. No more boring drive pasts by tanks and trucks but real drama, and the search for terrorists. Real drama! Well done SAF!
But you chaps shouldn’t have allowed the President’s wife to behave as if she were First Lady — which she isn’t — and given her the meaningless gibberish she mouthed on screen. It’s okay if Tony Tan mouthed meaningless gibberish— that’s what the President does. But I found it offensive that Mary Tan occupied one minute of my time on the giant screen. The President’s spouse is nothing more than a consort, nothing more.
The second most boring part of the parade (you can guess which part I found most boring) were the major sponsors. As the planning for next year’s parade has probably started, major sponsors should be asked to do a skit, like the SAF did, next year. Something that makes their contributions to our lives meaningful. Of course they can do it and work together — there is so much talent here, as was evident in the NDP 52.
And instead of wasting money printing that colourful discount booklet, participants can get free TV advertising on the big screens by offering discounts for a week or two to all customers. Imagine how entertaining it would be, too, to see live commercials of their products at the parade. I’m sure their staff would be glad not to have to practise marching for months for the parade. And they could pool together and additional contribution to charity as an NDP thought. That would probably amount to $1 million or at least $500,000 — not an insignificant contribution. So, apart from having had to look at Mrs MT, I had a great NDP! Majulah Singapura.