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From rain to fireworks: Singapore celebrates 60 years at NDP 2025

The first drops of rain fell just before the music began.

They dotted the Padang like quiet punctuation, a reminder that this year’s National Day Parade (NDP), celebrating Singapore’s 60th, would be marked by more than just fireworks.

It was a night of homecomings, goodbyes, and new beginnings — a celebration where strangers sang together, and generations passed the baton under a sky lit by jets and fire.

For the first time since 2019, foreign dignitaries joined the festivities.

Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Johor’s Regent Tunku Ismail, and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi were among this year’s spectators, sharing the city’s diamond jubilee.

Homecomings under grey skies

When the Red Lions and Republic of Singapore Navy Naval Divers performed the inaugural “Jump of Unity”, a ripple of awe passed through the stands.

Parachutes bloomed above, their colours vivid against the pale, rainwashed sky.

For Kwek Geok Lian, 63, the moment felt so different.

She had performed at NDP for years with Soka Gakkai Singapore, but as a performer, she rarely saw anything beyond her segment.

This year, she sat in the stands for the first time in years.

Her eyes followed the jets of the RSAF as they roared overhead, streaking across the skyline.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” she told MS News, her face bright.

“We always waited backstage. Tonight I can see everything.”

She got her ticket thanks to her friend Irene, 70, who also missed the performer’s slot this year.

For both women, it was a bittersweet change — a goodbye to the stage, but a reunion with the show they had helped bring to life for so long.

Remembering the roots, seeing the change

As the opening anthem swelled, Irene, who was a child when Singapore gained independence, thought back to 1965.

Since then, she had seen the nation transform, technology accelerate, and traditions shift.

The warmth of the “kampong spirit” was harder to find now, she felt, except in close-knit communities like her Sokka group.

From the stands, the performance unfolded in a tapestry of music, spoken word, and light.

Ramli Sarip’s spoken National Anthem was followed by the NDP 2025 theme song ‘Here We Are’, its refrain carried by Kit Chan and Charlie Lim.

Act after act moved between joy and reflection: A reminder of what the country had overcome, and what it still hoped to become.

Newcomers to the NDP celebration

In the crowd, Lannie, 34, who had moved from the Philippines just a year ago, felt something she had not expected.

It was her first NDP, and she felt lucky to be there after hearing about how hard it was to get tickets.

“It’s like everyone is connected,” she said, smiling as others sang beside her.

The videos before the different acts showing Singapore’s past — the struggles, the victories, the grit that shaped the city she now called home — stirred her the most.

Thaddeus, 37, had attended the parade with Lannie.

It was his first NDP at the Padang, though he had been to the floating platform and Kallang Stadium before.

He had expected to watch the show from a distance, but during one segment, the uniformed groups climbed into the stands, waving and mingling with spectators.

“It felt like they came to us,” he told MS News.

“Like we were part of it, not just watching.”

For him, the night was a reminder of how far Singapore had come, through hardships like COVID-19, through decades of change, and how each generation carried the baton forward.

The placard that lit up social media

Then there was Aaron Tan, 19, whose homecoming was both personal and unexpectedly public.

Pic courtesy of Aaron Tan

Aaron had grown up in Perth but returned to Singapore to serve his National Service.

After years of watching NDP on television, he was finally back in the stands for the 9 Aug show.

During the pre-parade “Our Singapore Wish” segment, where audience members raised placards with their hopes, Aaron and his friends decided to make theirs playful.

They scrawled: “I want to be PM/ President to serve my nation.”

Source: Hey Kaki on Instagram

A cameraman spotted them, motioned for the sign to be held high, and a few seconds later, Aaron was on national TV.

“Then, messages started to appear on my phone [from people] saying they saw me. Shortly after, I was on a few social media pages and even on CNA,” he told MS News.

He laughed about the attention but admitted it meant more than a joke.

“My parents always told me to keep up with what’s happening in Singapore,” he said. “After all, it’s still my home.”

“This has changed my mentality of Singapore from a normal country to my home.”

He said that SG60 felt significant to him as it had been a while since he had been back in Singapore.

“I really wanted to get the opportunity to watch or participate in an NDP, especially now as an NSF serving my military service,” added Aaron.

“Especially when the NDU and red lion parachuters jumped together, for the first time ever. Watching it in real life compared to on TV just shows how hard and dangerous it is to do what they do safely in front of a large audience.”

The Majulah moment

At 8.20pm, spectators in the stands rose as the first notes of Majulah Singapura echoed across the Padang.

Voices joined in, thousands strong.

Planes had roared earlier; now it was hearts that roared, beating in time with the anthem’s call.

As the final lines rang out, the night exploded in gold and crimson with fireworks arching over Marina Bay, mirrored by bursts above the Padang.

The crowd cheered, many still singing even as the anthem ended.

It was the kind of moment that anchored a memory — where the air smells of rain and gunpowder, and the sound of voices stays long after the last spark fades.

Rain, reunion, renewal at NDP 2025

The finale brought everyone to their feet again, as classic NDP songs spilled into the night — from ‘One People, One Nation’ to ‘We Are Singapore’.

In the stands, people swayed shoulder to shoulder, LED wristbands pulsing with the beat.

For Kwek, it was a reminder that the “kampong spirit” had not vanished — it just took new forms.

For Irene, it was proof that every generation left its mark, whether through performance or presence.

For Lannie, it was an initiation.

For Thaddeus, it was a renewal of pride.

For Aaron, it was a homecoming.

As the parade ended, a drizzle began again.

The rain had started the night and ended it, but between those bookends was something larger — a city pausing to look back, then stepping forward together.

Sixty years had brought Singapore from its uncertain start to a diamond jubilee, and as the lights dimmed, the crowd still humming, it was clear the next chapter was already being written.

Also read: CHIJ student who dreamt of NDP since P5 among thousands to perform on 9 Aug

CHIJ student who dreamt of NDP since P5 among thousands to perform on 9 Aug

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