NDP 2027 to return to the Padang to celebrate 60 years of national service

SINGAPORE – The National Day Parade (NDP) in 2027 will return to the Padang, said Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing on Aug 25.

This is to commemorate 60 years of national service, he said.

“Next year will be a special year for us,” he added. “The organising committee will try and plan something special for all Singaporeans, particularly for all those who have served to keep us safe the past 60 over years.”

While noting that the familiar Padang venue makes it “easy” for the NDP team to stick to the tried and tested, Chan said: “We want every NDP to be special. We want every NDP to be able to break new ground to show the world what we are capable of, and not just what we are used to and what we are familiar with.

“It’s okay for us to try. It’s okay that it doesn’t come out perfectly, but the fact that we dare to try and keep improving is the essence of every NDP,” he added.

Over the years, the NDP has been held at the field to coincide with milestone celebrations – from the first parade in 1966 to Singapore’s golden jubilee in 2015 and the bicentennial in 2019.

The Padang can accommodate about 27,000 spectators.

The minister was speaking at an appreciation function held at D’Marquee in Downtown East.

During the event, Chan gave out awards to 27 gold award recipients and 109 principal partners for their contributions to NDP 2026.

The gold award recipients included the parade’s creative director Brian Gothong Tan, chairman of the show committee Wong Zeng Yu and the executive committee’s chairman Lim Han Yong.

The principal partners included Nanyang Polytechnic School of Design and Media, volunteer group Heartwarmers and Defence Collective Singapore.

Chief of Defence Force Aaron Beng handed out 396 other awards at the function.

Chan, who is also the Coordinating Minister for Public Services, also acknowledged that NDP 2026 was not easy, as it was held at the National Stadium for the first time in 10 years.

“It was in some sense a brand new experience for many. We don’t have many people who have organised the NDP previously in the stadium still with us in the organising team,” he said.

Some of the difficulties, he noted, included having to accommodate the higher number of spectators, the size of the stage – which was about 30 per cent bigger than that of the Padang – as well as the expectations of spectators, who were accustomed to watching traditional elements like the Red Lions.

While the capacity of the stadium is almost double that of the Padang, there were no mobile column, Red Lions and aerial display due to “safety and operational concerns”.

But the people behind the show made NDP 2026 a special one, Chan added.

Besides their sterling performance, he said they displayed a willingness to try different things and a constant striving for improvement to make the show a better one.

To ensure that the 42,000 spectators in the stadium could enjoy the show, Chan said there were more than 10,000 people behind the scenes to see to it that everything was running smoothly.

These included personnel who looked after the food and logistics, as well as those who were stationed outside the stadium to help manage crowds.

“The venue will never define the experience. It is the people, the processes behind that will define our experience,” he said.

“What made the NDP special was not just the new ideas from the executive committee or the creative team, it was the fact that each and every one of you pulled your weight and made something special out of the ordinary.”