- National Day Rally
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The National Day Rally (Chinese: 国庆群众大会, Malay: Rapat Umum Hari Kebangsaan) is an annual address that the Prime Minister of Singapore makes to the entire nation, on the second Sunday after August 9, the country's National Day. A yearly event since 1966, the Prime Minister uses this rally to address the nation on its key challenges and its future directions, and can be compared to the State of the Union Address delivered by the President of the United States.
Prior to 2005, the rally was a continuous speech from 8 pm (SST). From 2005, the Malay and Chinese versions were delivered at 6.45 pm with a break at 7.30 pm while the English version was delivered at 8 pm.
Opposition MPs were invited to the rally for the first time in 2007.
Contents
Venue
The rally was delivered at the Kallang Theatre before 2001. After 2001, the venue has been shifted to the University Cultural Centre at the National University of Singapore. It was also constituted during the parliament sittings.
2010 National Day Rally
The 2010 National Day Rally was held on 29 August at the University Cultural Centre, Singapore. The speech was broadcast 'live' on TV and radio, as well as webcast 'live' on the websites of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and REACH.[1] It was also viewable on smartphones and on Channel NewsAsia. During the speech, there was active discussion by Singaporeans on Twitter and Facebook.
Highlights of the speech are available on the PMO website.[2]
2011 National Day Rally
The 2011 National Day Rally will be held on 14 August at the University Cultural Centre, Singapore. Similar to 2010, the speech will be broadcast 'live' on TV and radio. A 'live' webcast on the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and REACH's websites. This is also viewable on smartphones live webcast for mobile devices [3]. The English rally was also shortened till 9.30pm.
Broadcast
As a national event, the rally is usually broadcast 'live' from 6.45pm till 10pm (SST), with a break between 7.30pm and 8pm, across MediaCorp channels.[4]
Platform/Language English
Dubbing in EnglishMandarin
Dubbing in MandarinMalay
Dubbing in MalayTamil
Dubbing in TamilTV Channel 5
okto
MediaCorp Channel NewsAsia (8pm-10pm)Channel 8
Channel USuria Vasantham Radio 938LIVE Capital 95.8FM Warna 94.2FM Oli 96.8FM Online Channel NewsAsia Live - - - The rally was broadcast from 2001 to 2004 on SPH MediaWorks channels as well.
Transcripts of the rally speech are usually available for viewing after the event at MediaCorp news portals, Singapore Press Holdings news portals, the website of the Prime Minister's Office and the online press centre of the Government of Singapore. Highlights of the speeches will usually be reported by Singapore newspapers in the following days.
Response
In the 2009 Rally, Singaporeans used the Twitter hashtag #ndrsg to tweet about the Rally.
An article titled "Singapore's National Day Rally Speech: A Site of Ideological Negotiation"[5] analyses the inaugural National Day Rally speeches of three Singapore prime ministers. It locates these speeches in the continuous ideological work that the People’s Action Party (PAP) government has to do in order to maintain consensus and forge new alliances among classes and social forces that are being transformed by globalisation. Increasingly, these speeches have had to deal with the contradictions between nation-building and the tensions between the liberal and reactionary tendencies of the global city. The article is available here
In 2008, the English language telecast of the Rally, initially scheduled for 'live' broadcast at 8pm on August 17, was postponed to the next day. This movement was to facilitate Singaporeans to watch women's table tennis team take on China in the finals at the Beijing Olympics. The Rally itself proceeded as usual at the University Cultural Centre, but was only broadcast the next day.[6]
References
- ^ "More ways to catch PM Lee's National Day Rally on Sunday". Channel NewsAsia. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1076599/1/.html. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
- ^ "National Day Rally Speech (English) by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 29 August 2010, at 8.00pm at University Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore". Prime Minister's Office. http://www.pmo.gov.sg/News/Speeches/Prime+Minister/National+Day+Rally+2010+Speech+(English)+by+PM+Lee+at+University+Cultural+Centre+NUS.htm.
- ^ http://www.pmo.gov.sg/content/pmosite/mediacentre/pressreleases/2011/August/Statement_from_Prime_Ministers_Office_Prime_Ministers_National_Day_Rally_2011.html
- ^ "MediaCorp to broadcast PM Lee's Nat'l Day Rally Speech "live" Sunday". Channel NewsAsia. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/specialreport/news/367942_74/1/.html. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- ^ Kenneth Paul Tan (2007) "Singapore's National Day Rally Speech: A Site of Ideological Negotiation", Journal of Contemporary Asia 37:3, pp. 292-308. Also available online
- ^ "Broadcast of National Day Rally English speech postponed to Monday". Channel NewsAsia. 2007-08-16. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/368702/1/.html.
Further reading
- "Transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally English Speech on 19 August 2007 at NUS University Cultural Centre". Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Singapore). 2007-08-19. http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/20070819990.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
- "Transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally English Speech on 17 August 2008 at NUS University Cultural Centre". Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Singapore). 2008-08-17. http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/20080819982.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
- "Transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally English Speech on 16 August 2009 at NUS University Cultural Centre". Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Singapore). 2009-08-17. http://www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/pmo/transcript/T-20090819-1. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
- "NATIONAL DAY RALLY SPEECH (ENGLISH) BY PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG ON 29 AUGUST 2010, AT 8.00PM AT UNIVERSITY CULTURAL CENTRE, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE". Prime Minister's Office (Singapore). 2010-08-29. http://www.pmo.gov.sg/content/pmosite/mediacentre/speechesninterviews/primeminister/2010/August/national_day_rallyspeechenglishbyprimeministerleehsienloongon29a.html. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
External links
- Prime Minister's Office website - Official website of the Singapore Prime Minister's Office.
- REACH's website - The Singapore government's official website for public consultation and feedback.
- Mobile Webcast site - Mobile webcast of the event.
- Channel NewsAsia microsite - MediaCorp's live webcast site.
Categories:- Events in Singapore
- Politics of Singapore
- August observances
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