As I sat in the comfort of my home watching the live telecast of the National Day Parade,
the huge words that said 'MAJULAH SINGAPURA' or 'Onward Singapore' at the venue suddenly struck me.
It was this very same venue that we first celebrated our merger with Malaysia in 1963.
It was our safety net, to ensure that we would be able to survive, since we were so small and had no natural resources of our own to ensure our survival.
But 2 years later, in 1965, due to irreconcilable differences, we cut ourselves adrift and became an independent nation.
We wept.
We worried for our survival and safety.
People scorned and said that we wouldn't make it on our own.
Yet a year later, we held our very first National Day parade.
At the very same place we celebrated the merger 3 years back.
Fast forward 50 years, we gather once again at the very same Padang, this place of historical significance,
celebrating our Golden Jubilee and proudly declaring "MAJULAH SINGAPURA".
This year, there was no Mr Lee Kuan Yew to join us.
And honestly speaking, it somehow felt incomplete to not welcome him like we did every year. With a thunderous standing ovation.
And to see the ever-getting-more-frail Mr Lee Kuan Yew, despite having trouble walking and balancing, still stop to wave to the crowd with a beaming smile on his face. The pride he felt displayed for all to see.
It marred the entire parade slightly, but we as one people of Singapore beamed with pride in his place.
Today, we came together as one people, one nation, one Singapore to celebrate, take pride and glory in our nation's Golden Jubilee.
We have come thus far, and may we continue to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.
Without our founding fathers, the responsibility now rests on us to march onward and not regress.
Happy 50th Birthday, Singapore.
Despite all our complaints and dissent (because let's face it. We're never content),
there's still no place like home.
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