SINGAPORE: When Mr Azuan Tan cried while singing the National Anthem during the National Day Parade (NDP) on Tuesday (Aug 9), he did not think it would become a highlight of the event.
Television cameras caught the 41-year-old Bedok View Secondary School teacher with tears in his eyes as the anthem was sung at Marina Bay’s floating platform.
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong posted a screengrab of Mr Tan on social media on Tuesday night, and said it was turning out to be “one of the iconic images of NDP 2022”.
The National Day Parade returned as a full-scale event after two years of pandemic restrictions.
Mr Tan told CNA he was “soaking in the particular moment” and did not realise the camera was filming him.
“I should have realised,” he said, laughing. “I would have sat down or put myself together.”
He found out he was on television after a fellow spectator at the parade showed it to him.
The teacher was attending the NDP with his three children – a son aged 10, and two daughters aged eight and four – for the first time. The last time he watched the parade live was as a teenager with his family, he said.
The narrative of the parade this year left him emotional, he added.
“I thought it was a story about everyone, every single Singaporean. I think many Singaporeans, frontline workers or not, contributed in one way or another, trying to get ourselves out together and fight through this (pandemic),” he said.
Hearing everyone on the floating platform singing the National Anthem and reciting the pledge made him burst with pride, he explained.
“The vibe, the atmosphere was sombre, very emotional. You could hear it from each and every Singaporean who was reciting the pledge, resonating with every single word, sentence, phrase in the National Anthem. I’m very sure other Singaporeans were tearing and crying as well,” Mr Tan said.