NDP 2025 to feature first SCDF guard-of-honour contingent
NDP 2025, which marks Singapore's 60th year of independence, will also see the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps (SAFVC) field its first full contingent to mark its 10th anniversary.
Colonel Lim Yu Sing, the NDP 2025 parade and ceremony chairman, said on June 12 that the parade will feature 40 marching contingents - the largest number at the Padang since 1990, when 70 took part.
While participants will train for about 14 weekends - similar to previous years - the higher number of guard-of-honour contingents has added complexity to their movements, said the 44-year-old Col Lim.
Meticulous planning has gone into technicalities such as where the contingents turn, their spacing, marching speed and where they stop, said Col Lim, who was also parade and ceremony chairman for NDP 2023.
SCDF Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Resilience Ling Young Ern said the decision to include the SCDF in the guard-of-honour contingent was made following public feedback. The force will remain a part of the guard of honour in future NDPs.
The inclusion of the SCDF means that its service personnel have to be trained to handle the SAR21 rifle - which is not part of the SCDF's personal equipment but a standard weapon borne by guard-of-honour troops.
For this reason, the SCDF was not part of the guard-of-honour contingent for previous NDPs, Deputy Commissioner Ling and NDP 2024 Exco chairman Brigadier-General Low Wilson said in 2024 in response to an ST forum letter.
NDP 2025 will be led by parade commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Firdaus Ghazali, 38, and parade regimental sergeant major, Master Warrant Officer Lim Jie Hui, 46.
About 2,100 participants will take part in the parade.
They include members of six guard-of-honour contingents, the SAF colours party, several SAF and Home Team supporting contingents, uniformed youth organisations, numerous civilian contingents, a combined band and a live choir.
In addition, 142 soldiers are involved in the presidential gun salute.
Training for contingents from the SAF and Home Team began in April, while civilian contingents joined in from May. The first combined rehearsal at the Padang will take place on June 14.
For LTC Firdaus, being a parade commander was his childhood dream.
In 2002, he participated in the NDP as a performer for the closing act in the show segment when he was a Temasek Secondary School student.
"I had a glimpse of the parade and ceremony segment during one of the training sessions from the stands of the (old) National Stadium," said LTC Firdaus, who is commanding officer of the SAF's Motorised Infantry Battalion Training Centre 1.
"I developed a deep appreciation for the parade and its significance as the heart and core of our NDPs."
In total, the parade at NDP 2025 will involve about 2,100 participants. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Major Lee En Hao, 34, commander of the SCDF's inaugural guard-of-honour contingent, said Aug 9 will be a "historic moment" for the force. He added that he is excited to see how future parades may evolve, with the SCDF guard-of-honour contingent now a permanent fixture in the NDP.
With the rest of the guard of honour, the SCDF contingent will fire blanks using SAR21 rifles during the feu de joie or fire of joy, which is a ceremonial salute.
Sergeant 3 Thenmoli Silvadorie, a 28-year-old SCDF paramedic, said learning how to use and fire a SAR21 rifle has been exciting for her.
"Initially it felt heavy, but with more training... it has become a part of us," she said. "It instils a lot of discipline and accountability."
NDP 2025 will be the second time in three years that the number of guard-of-honour contingents has increased.
In 2023, the SAF's Digital and Intelligence Service - inaugurated in 2022 - joined the NDP for the first time, fielding a guard-of-honour contingent along with the army, navy and air force contingents as well as the Singapore Police Force.
The SAFVC was first represented at the NDP in 2019, as part of a combined contingent that also featured members of the police's Volunteer Special Constabulary and the SCDF's Civil Defence Auxiliary Unit. The combined volunteer contingent did not feature again until NDP 2024.
SAFVC contingent commander Arlene Pang, 42, said the fact that the volunteer corps is able to field an entire contingent in 2025 reflects how it has grown over the past decade.
Ms Pang, who joined the SAFVC in 2015 as part of its first batch of volunteers, feels as if she has "grown up from primary school to secondary school" with the corps.
"I've seen it from its genesis to where it is right now. I've seen how different leaders have come in to bring SAFVC to the next level and to make it what it is today," said Ms Pang, who serves with the navy.
This year, the public can get up close with the SAF colours at an uncasing ceremony in Marina Square from 5.15pm before the parade and ceremony begin.
During the parade and ceremony segment, spectators will be near the live choir, who will perform on "island stages" positioned near the seating galleries.
The 127-member choir is formed by Greendale Secondary School students and singers from arts group Voices of Singapore.
Accompanying them is a 100-piece band, with members from the SAF Band, SPF Band, Singapore National Cadet Corps Command Band and National Police Cadet Corps Band.
As the National Anthem plays during the state flag flypast - just after the President arrives at the Padang - members of the uniformed youth contingents at the parade will form the words "Majulah 60" using umbrellas, a nod to NDP 2025's theme Majulah Singapura and the country's 60th birthday.
The parade and ceremony will conclude with the onward march as contingents from the SAF, Home Team and uniformed youth organisations march past the spectator stands while exiting the Padang.
People without tickets to the parade at the Padang can still get in on the action at Marina Bay, where four 25-pounder guns will sail around the bay on the SAF's Mobility 3rd Generation rafts, coming near those gathered at The Promontory @ Marina Bay.
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