COME OUT AND CELEBRATE NATIONAL DAY!

As Singapore gears up to celebrate the nation's 47th birthday on 9 Aug, National Day Parade (NDP) organisers and nine partners have lined up a slew of activities and events to drum up the festive mood.

Working together with the Esplanade, Singapore Flyer, Public Utilities Board, Gardens by the Bay, HomeTeamNS, Young NTUC, *SCAPE, Sentosa and Singapore Mint, NDP organisers estimate that more than 100,000 Singaporeans will be able to join the celebrations at various venues across the island.

For instance, visitors to Sentosa will be treated to the sight of a 4m by 2.4m sand sculpture at the Beach Plaza. Based on this year's NDP theme Loving Singapore Our Home, the sculpture features icons like the Merlion and the Singapore Flag.

At the Esplanade, visitors can enjoy a series of non-ticketed events starting from 8 Aug. They include music performances by Singapore's various ethnic groups, a sing-a-long session of National Day songs and the screening of local films like The Teenage Textbook and Home Run.

Other celebratory events that will be taking place include a mass dance organised by the Public Utilities Board at the Marina Barrage, as well as a showcase of 26 pieces of street art at *SCAPE that features milestones in Singapore's growth.

"The closer you get (to the Marina Bay Platform), the better the experience will be and that is why we want people to come out of the heartlands, come out of their homes and come down (to the celebration venues)," said Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Paul Koh, Chairman of the Outreach Management and Celebrations committee.

He added: "These activities complement the usual crowd-pleasers at NDP. We know that Singaporeans come down the area near the floating platform to catch the Red Lions display, the flypast and the fireworks It is important (for us to) create something, together with our partners, that keeps the public entertained and engaged."

The Pledge Moment, which debuted at NDP 2009, will return this year. At 8.05pm, the Singapore Civil Defence Force's chime will sound island-wide for 20 seconds.

Singaporeans can join those at the floating platform to recite the national pledge and sing the national anthem, reaffirming their trust and love for the country.

And although they may be in different time zones and cities, Singaporeans overseas can also participate in the Pledge Moment this year through social media platform Facebook.

They can download five different designs of the e-Pledge poster from the NDP website and upload them onto their Facebook timeline, choose from three NDP-themed Facebook cover photos, and even place a picture badge of the Singapore flag on top of their Facebook profile pictures.

Explaining the rationale of bringing the Pledge Moment online, LTC Ng Sin Ain, Chairman of the Branding and Publicity committee, said it was a good way to address the challenge of the geographical and time-zone boundaries.

"We want Singaporeans overseas to (participate in the Pledge Moment) without the constraints of having to wake up at 3am just to say the Pledge. Now, they can do so electronically. Come 9 Aug, they can post our pledge posters as their status on Facebook, allowing them to say the Pledge virtually at the time of their post."

Comparing the act of pinning the flag picture badge on Facebook to the act of Singaporeans hanging the flag outside their flats or windows, LTC Ng said: "It's a figurative way of hanging the flag and showing love and commitment to the nation.

"In this sense, we hope all Singaporeans can be involved."

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