The Field Marshal

The 1968 NDP Downpour I knew that something was on when PM Lee choked back his emotions and tears during the National Day Rally last weekend. Being the cynical person that I am, my sensors were at full power trying to pick up any stray nationalistic educational waves that are to be emitted from PM Lee's speech. And as sure as the sun will rise in the East I was 'rewarded' with the reasons why the 1968 NDP Parade held supposedly strong emotions for him. Well, according to the man himself, he was part of a band that was to perform at the parade. That makes him one of those heroes that braved the torrential rains on 8 Aug 1968. Frankly speaking I cannot understand what's the big hoo-ha over this incident. For me, it is just plain bad luck that heavens decided to dump rain on the performers on that fateful day. If you ask me what I will remember that day for, although I wasn't there, I would say that it is a day when most Singaporeans got wet at the same time. Seriously, does a show of few hundred wet performers show the resolve and tenacity of a fledging nation? Nay, I say. The resolve of our forefathers were not shown in one single event, like getting drenched at the parade, nor standing by the road to cheer the drenched performers as they march past the old streets of Singapore. What really showed the resolve of this nation is the fact that the people wanted to make Singapore, the 'new kid on the block', work. It is every drop of sweat and blood that went into ensuring the our ports ran 24 hours, that our docks were cleared of goods, that factories produced the goods, which make each and every Singapore of the 1960s-70s the pioneers that we should all look up to, not a bunch of fellas who think that are heroes just because they got wet. Fast forward to the 1990s - 2000s. Chances are, National Day Parades will still go on even in rain or shine in this day and age. The fact is, without the command of the parade commander to fall out, nobody in their right mind would run at the faintest of a torrential downpour. Ask any NS boy and they would answer that facing the wrath of nature would be preferable to facing the wrath of the company regimental sergeant major back in camp after running to take cover from raindrops. I can imagine the RSM shouting, "KNNCCB! You call yourselves men? My grandmother can stand in the rain for TWO, yes TWO f*cking hours without flinching. You TELL ME THAT YOU ARE AFRAID OF SOME BLOODY RAINDROPS!!!! ALL OF YOU SIGN FOR DEFAULTERS PARADE THIS WEEKEND. And all will get one week confinement. FALLOUT YOU SISSIES!!!

Since the first generation of RSMs, circa 1968, were trained by the professionals, Israel, I doubt anyone in their right minds would want to check if their RSMs or parade commander is nice enough to excuse them from the parade. Come to think about it, if just weathering through a torrential downpour qualifies a person as full of resolve and strength, then all who had ROD (before 1995) from NS are heroes to me. I say this since all who had ever gone through NS would have taken more shit and nonsense in the two and a half years in the shitholes we call army camps. Not all shitholes are alike since things do change when a pristine white horse trots into camp. I say post '95 NSFs are sissies because I have seen how soft these losers are. Remember all the softies who looked capable of peeing their fatigues when some robbers were loose on Tekong? Yeah, they are big time LOSERS! Afraid of robbers holding a pistol when you are holding a bloody M16 rifle. Need I say more.

Coming back to the issue proper, what I want to say is that the tears that failed to flow during the Rally was an impressively chereographed piece that kickstarted a host of national educational media programmes. We are now in the middle of it. Look around and you will find at people coming forward to share their experience of the '68 spirit. Prior to the mention of the rain that befell PM Lee in 1968, no one gave a hoot, or half for that, to know whether the sun was shining then. The fact is, no one bloody cared. So, after one mention, the whole nation has caught on this 1968 bug. To be linked to that fateful day is seen as patriotic and worst of all, cool. Performers, spectators, former MPs and loads of other unimportant people suddenly remembered what they did on 9 Aug 1968, tripping all over each other now to give their accounts. If you ask them what happened on another NDP parade, I bet their eyes would glaze over and answered with a 'duh'.

If you are still not convinced that this is a concerted effort to pump some nationalistic sentiments into brains, then ask yourself this. How did Mediacorp and SPH managed to pump our all the info in articles and documentaries within such a short period of time? Journalists are hardworking folks, but I doubt that they, or the filming crew + supporting cast, would be able to field documentaries and a whole range of other media onslaught within such a short period of time. Everything was already ready. They were just waiting for our PM to hold back his tears.

Welcome to Singapore's very own brand of national education. One has to live here for an extended period to not even feel that something is not right. Well, there are always the cynics like me. Always looking for something sinister, even when it is just as simple as rain.