Chingay reflection 2016

  Chingay 2016 is themed " Lights of legacy , Brighter Singapore ". We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the preview of Chingay Parade 2016, this opportunity was given to the whole year two cohort by our school.

  Personally , I think the purpose of Chingay Parade is to allow people from different community to get together, and just have fun. This relieves racial tension and promotes racial harmony in Singapore , a country where people from different races live together . And also , it is something that people from all walks of life can enjoy.

  This parade also brought up our togetherness, as one big family. When I was there in the parade, I felt very heart warming, proud and happy . While sitting there with my classmates, we were singing along to every single song that we knew. I truly felt a very strong sense of belonging into my class, this just made me treasure them even more . As I was watching the parade, I noticed that the participants were made up of people from different races, languages and religion. This made me feel very heart warming , people with different background and race working hard together to deliver the most memorable parade to the audience, us.

  External participants such as participants from , Japan , Malaysia and many more were also part of the parade. This event also allows youth to be a part of this big event as ushers, dancers and many more, this provides them with a very good platform to give back to society , thus also allows them to train up their leadership qualities to become leaders of distinction for Singapore. The People's Association Youth Movement (PAYM) is a platform which gathers youth to participate in Chingay in various ways.Youths between the aged 12-35 can enter PAYM . PAYM uses online media like Facebook to advertise for its participation in Chingay and uses it to search for participants . When youths, sees these advertisements, they will usually go and apply if they are free. I have a friend who volunteered to become an usher for the Chingay parade 2016 .

  Thus I can say that the purposes of Chingay parade are " Bringing communities together" , "create sense of belonging" , "forge good international ties" , " developing young leaders distinction".

  The first Chingay parade dates back to 1973. In June 1972 , fire crackers were banned due to the deaths and injuries caused by serious explosions , the absence of traditional firecrackers to celebrate the Lunar New Year caused unhappiness and redused enthusiasm in the celebration amongst the people, as an alternative , prime minister Lee Kuan Yew suggested "Chingay Parade" , this will brighten up the mood of Singaporeans back then and it will be a fun parade for all. At first , the parade was Chinese centric and was a "Singaporean parade" with totally zero international participants . As Chingay progresses trough out the years , it has became a multiracial event and even international. Now, instead of the Chinese community parading, we can see all the other communities helping out and parading together, international participants were also glad to be part of the parade. This change , from a Chinese centric event to a multiracial one , from a local event to an international one, is due to the fact that Singapore has became a multiracial country and every race, and every body has a part in this country . The fact that the event attracted international participants show that Singapore has built a very good reputation for itself and has forged good ties with other nations.
  The organizers has done a ver good job in planning this event . And in my opinion, I f the that all their purposes of "Chingay parade" has all been achieved. "Bringing communities together" was achieved when people from different race, and religion worked together , be it as a participant of the parade  or as audiences. "Create sense of belonging" was achieved when audiences interacted with each other and the sense of pride, and belonging was instilled. "Forge good international ties" was achieved when foreign participants came to take part in this extraordinary event with us.

"Developing young leaders of distinction " was achieved when youths from the People's Association Youth Movement  helped out in many many ways for the Chingay parade.

  I had a very good and memorable time at Chingay Parade 2016 and will not hesitate to join the PAYM to participate in the future year's Chingay parade . Once again I would to thank the school for providing us with such a good apportunity to watch the Chingay Parade 2016 preview.