‘An expression of our collective spirit’: Transcript of remarks by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Lunch Appreciation Function for Chingay 2024 Major Sponsors, Donors and Key Contributors

Mr Jimmy Toh, Chief Executive Director of the People’s Association

Sponsors, partners, friends of Chingay 2024

Volunteers and everyone gathered here and representing the much larger group of people who came together for Chingay 2024.

We share something in common. We are proud that Chingay is a tradition that is cherished, and we have kept evolving while remaining true to its original founding – an expression of the collective spirit of Singaporeans. That's what Chingay is essentially about and remains, an expression of our collective spirit.

Those who are a little older know what it was like at the start. Before Chingay, every year during Chinese New Year, people used to look forward to the street festivities in different parts of Singapore, which included firecrackers. There were problems with firecrackers of course, and eventually they had to be banned. But Mr Lee Kuan Yew decided that something was still needed, something that could replace these festivities. The government decided to create an annual street performance with a float parade - something people could enjoy together at Chinese New Year. 

In 1973, we had our first Chingay parade. It was quite a spectacle. There were 2000 performers leading a float with a huge bull and two giant ornamental firecrackers. They started at 11 in the morning, at Victoria Street, wound their way through North Bridge Road and South Bridge Road and ended up in Outram Park. Some of you who are old enough will remember that.

Since then, we have evolved Chingay. – we have different ethnic communities coming together to participate, and we have international participants as well.

But as I mentioned earlier, while Chingay has evolved, it remains an expression of the collective spirit that was there from the earliest parades - people from all walks of life coming together and creating something together.

We are also expanding now Chingay in the heartlands. The celebrations during COVID-19 were of course restrained. But we started community floats during COVID-19, and they were on static display in the various neighbourhoods as part of the last two Chingays. This year, the community floats will go mobile, joining the main floats as they make their way through our different neighbourhoods. We are seeing this from 25 February until 9 March.

But what is most impressive is the number of people who put this all together in the community. We had a group of talented community artists working with residents in communities across the island. In fact, 3400 residents of all ages, from young kids to seniors, came together and worked with the community artists to create the various community installations.

And they did it with a very strong emphasis on sustainability. They put their creative juices to work, upcycling different materials such as old T-shirts and aluminium cans. They cleaned up used plastic bottles - shredding, melting and moulding them into flower petals and leaves for the floats. We saw flamingos and swans made from recycled plastic bags and plastic plates, and eventually scenes from different neighbourhoods – Marsiling-Yew Tee, Pasir Ris-Punggol – coming to life through these recycled plastic bottles. It was a very impressive creative and collective effort.

Let me highlight just a few of the people who made Chingay 2024 what it was - and who expressed something about all those who were involved.

Mr Azhar Bin Samsuddin is a good example. It was his first time participating in the parade. He had lost his right leg, so he participated in a wheelchair, but he participated with gusto through the 230 metre route, together with several other persons with disabilities.

We had a pair of sisters from En Community Services Society - Mdm Goh Guat Kheng and Mdm Goh Pheck Hong. Like many others they have osteoporosis – it comes with age – but they performed their ukeleles with joy, together with their fellow seniors from the Society.

Madam Malliga Manikkam, who has participated in the Chingay Parade eight times is yet another. Through the Chingay Parade, Mallika has met participants from different communities, different races, and in fact different nationalities as well. And if we think about what it involves - it’s all those long hours of training and rehearsals in the hot sun, but it brings people together. She's one of those who has experienced that, been enriched by it.

Ms Wendy Chia, who is the Vice-chairperson of the 2024 Chingay EXCO, represents the dedication of the parade’s volunteers. She started volunteering regularly in 2018, inspired by her sister’s involvement. And this year, at age 22, Wendy took on the challenge of co-leading a team of over 600 volunteers.

All of them, and all our volunteers, made this a wonderful collective effort. And that's how we got the Blossom, the theme of this year’s Chingay. It is a blossoming of that collective collective joy.

So let me, in closing, thank everyone who contributed to Chingay 2024. I appreciate very much the tremendous planning and effort that went into this on the part of the People's Association, and the support from Singapore Totalisator Board, our sponsors, our donors and the many participating organisations - and most of all, the thousands of participants and volunteers.

Chingay is a cherished tradition, and we will keep evolving it with the times. Thank you very much.