At 50, Singapore celebrates success amid challenges of political restrictions

President Tony Tan Keng Yam said that Singapore had made remarkable progress in its short history in building a prosperous and harmonious multi-cultureal nation.

Regional leaders attending the parade included Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and China’s Vice-President Li Yuanchao and.

Celebrations for Singapore’s 50th anniversary kick off on Sunday.

Military presence… The guard of honour contingent march past in front of the City Hall during the National Day Parade in Singapore.

“From this base camp, we can also look forward to new peaks ahead”, Lee said in his televised speech. Global business magazine Forbes’ recently ranked Singapore the third-richest country in the world, behind Qatar and Luxembourg. The journey ahead is uncharted.

Tolerance towards dissent may be one of the biggest challenges Prime Minister Lee faces in general elections, scheduled to take place on September 12. “But we must press on, because we aspire to do better for ourselves and our children”, he said.

The show, to be watched by tens of thousands of people, will feature the first-ever acrobatic display by as many as 20 Singapore Air Force F-16s forming the number “50” in the sky.

The authentic image to use on the festivity serves as a ruddy adorn, an emblem of sense of accomplishment and boldness because the 1990s if an Indonesian chief was in fact noted to acquire referenced Singapore dismissively as “a little ruddy dot” toward the guide.

One of the highlights of the celebration on Sunday is for 500,000 Singaporeans to gather in the morning at some 200 designated spots island-wide to listen to a recording done three years ago of the late Lee reading the proclamation of Singapore’s independence.

The next elections could be called as early as next month.

Political analysts expect Lee’s party to win more votes this time, in part thanks to the patriotism and feelgood factor of the anniversary celebrations but also the government’s efforts to address issues irking the public.

Lee’s People’s Action Party suffered its worst results in 2011, but still holds 80 out of 87 seats in the country’s parliament.

Singapore’s low birth rate, coupled with its rapidly greying population, prompted the government to liberalise immigration policy in the mid-2000s, with the population surging from 4.17 million in 2004 to 5.47 million last year – 40 percent of them foreigners.