Singaporeans have ample reason to celebrate: PM Lee Hsien Loong

Tourists sit in a capsule on the Singapore flyer observatory wheel overlooking the skyline of the central business district in Singapore July 16, 2015.

Leaders from 18 countries, including India, have arrived in Singapore to participate today in a special ceremony organised to celebrate the prosperous city state’s 50 years of independence.

The celebrations kicked off Sunday morning when sirens blared at 9:00 am (0100 GMT) before national TV and radio stations broadcast a 2012 recording of Lee Kuan Yew rereading the original declaration of independence.

The government intends to showcase its success in an elaborate parade that will include a flypast by fighter jets and fireworks for an audience of 200,000 as well as millions watching on television from their living rooms.

Our countries have made a significant contribution to global peace and security over many decades, based on shared values including our firm support for the worldwide rules based system, and we look forward to sustained and close defence, security and economic co-operations in years to come.

“Most of all let us celebrate how we journeyed from Third World to First, as one united people, leaving no one behind”, said Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his message. “The journey ahead is uncharted. However we should press on, as a result of we aspire to do higher for ourselves and our youngsters”.

The proclamation was read by an announcer over Radio Singapore though it was issued in Lee Kuan Yew’s name in 1965.

Britain and Singapore have a relationship and history that is as close today as it was 50 years ago.

In 2011, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) suffered its worst defeat in the general elections since its independence.

The government has granted an extra day of public holiday, and handed out commemorative tote bags stuffed with national flags along with snacks and games from Singapore’s yesteryear.

The official emblem for the celebration is a pink dot, a logo of satisfaction and defiance because the 1990s when an Indonesian chief was reported to have referred to Singapore dismissively as “a bit of purple dot” on the map. The image, with “SG50” in white characters, is ubiquitous, adorning banners, buses, cakes and a host of goods in shops.

The recent jailing of teenager Amos Yee for insulting Christianity in a video tirade against Lee, as well as a defamation suit against an activist who accused the current prime minister of misusing state pension funds, have been held up as examples of the government’s intolerance for dissent.