Singapore celebrates 50th year, faces midlife crisis

SIn this Saturday August 8, 2015, photo, a girl carries balloons with the words “Happy Birthday Singapore”, as people walk on a bridge with the financial skyline of Singapore in the background, where celebrations for the city-state’s 50th year of independence have started.

This was followed by the singing of the National Anthem and reciting of the pledge.SINGAPORE, August 9 – For the first time, Singaporeans today listened to the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew read the Proclamation of Independence.

As fighter jets roared through the sky, tens of thousands took advantage of the day’s free train and bus rides to gather at the Padang in Central Singapore for Golden Jubilee festivities, where national songs blared and prominent leaders made speeches extolling the country’s achievements.

“This is a milestone”.

Lee, the authoritarian ruler who died in March, aged 91, was honored with a video on his life and times at the beginning of the National Day Parade, the first he had ever missed.The crowd decked in red and white Singapore colors and many in tears greeted the tribute with a robust round of applause.

To Lee and his cohort of leaders, setting Singapore on the path to economic success meant putting in place tough policies to try to harmonise a racial mix of majority Chinese and minority Malays and Indians.

On the eve of the parade his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said in a televised message that “at 50 years, as we stand at a high base camp, we look back and marvel at how how far we have come”. Opposition figures were either defeated in elections or taken to court on defamation charges until they were bankrupt.

His get together suffered its worst displaying on the polls within the final parliamentary election in 2011 because of discontent over points from a widening wealth hole, sky-rocketing property costs and an inflow of overseas staff.

The government’s recent moves to take a teenage blogger to court and require popular news sites to obtain licenses were met with outrage from the online community. All different gatherings require a police allow. “Is there a worth on stealing a soul?” stated senior analysis affiliate Bridget Welsh of Nationwide Taiwan College’s Middle for East Asia Democratic Research. It triggered a rare protest of more than 2,000 against foreign labor. “Peaceful protests are a legal platform for Singaporeans to voice out”, said organizer Gilbert Goh, who has since held several smaller rallies.