In pictures: Singapore's National Day parade 2023 at the Padang

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SINGAPORE: There were thrills aplenty at Singapore’s National Day Parade to mark its 58th year of independence. Crowds were entertained by the Republic of Singapore Air Force fighter jets pulling off awe-inducing manoeuvres as part of an enhanced aerial display to mark its 55th anniversary. 

The Red Lions, the Singapore Armed Forces’ parachutist team, pulled off their jump from 10,000 feet above with panache, and the Padang was bathed in neon colours for the show segment directed by filmmaker Royston Tan.

Take a visual tour of NDP 2023’s standout moments through the perspectives of CNA’s visual journalists Gaya Chandramohan, Hanidah Amin, Raydza Rahman and Syamil Sapari.

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Inspired, nostalgic, sense of sadness: Halimah's range of emotions at her last NDP as President

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She also said it was wonderful that people with disabilities were included in the celebrations.

“We show Singapore and the world that people with disabilities are actually people with different abilities, they have the talents, and we give them the chance to show those talents,” she said, adding that the work produced by people with disabilities “never fails to fascinate” her.

“As a country, on the most important day that we celebrate our nationhood, we integrate our people with disabilities,” Mdm Halimah said.

“We bring them to the fore, because Singaporeans, we’re all in this together, not those who can run the fastest. But everyone must work together as a team.”

In response to a question about whether she has felt lonely, sitting in the president’s seat during each National Day Parade, Mdm Halimah said she never felt alone. 

“I never felt that I’m looking at the parade alone,” she said, adding that there is a sense of togetherness.

“There are times when we go through hardships, we all have to limit, constrain ourselves. But there are times when we have to celebrate and we celebrate together.”

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Singapore shines its light on the future with NDP 2023

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The show soon began with students from Bedok View Secondary School, Deyi Secondary School, East Spring Secondary School and Victoria Junior College in vibrant costumes dancing to this year’s theme song, Shine Your Light, and easing the crowd into the programme. 

This year, a total of 2,400 performers and 43 artistes were involved, with students and community groups converging from various schools, ministries and organisations to make NDP happen.

Another 400 students from tertiary institutions contributed as audience motivators, make-up artists and content creators, and they could be seen dotted throughout the stands, dancing to songs tirelessly throughout. 

Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng and Members of Parliament were welcomed to the NDP and made their way onto the stands from the National Gallery. 

Shortly after 6pm, a crowd favourite, the military free fall segment was conducted by the Red Lions, with eight descending from a transport aircraft in aerial formation and taking minutes to reach the ground. The crowd waited with bated breath, last year’s mishap involving a Red Lion in an awry landing on everyone’s minds. 

Each Red Lion landed, within seconds of the other, smoothly and to ecstatic cheers and applause from the crowd. 

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Watch live: National Day Parade 2023 at the Padang

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SINGAPORE: Singapore marks its 58th year of independence on Wednesday (Aug 9), with a national day parade at the Padang.

The live broadcast of the parade starts at 5.55pm and it will be shown live on CNA. This theme of this year’s parade is “Onward As One”.

Expect to see an enhanced aerial display to mark the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) 55th anniversary. The RSAF’s C-130 transport aircraft will fly the Red Lions over the Padang for a free fall segment.

The NDP Show comprises four live acts featuring 43 artistes and 2,400 performers. The creative director for the parade is filmmaker Royston Tan.

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Watch: National Day Parade 2023 at the Padang

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SINGAPORE: Singapore marked its 58th year of independence on Wednesday (Aug 9) with a national day parade at the Padang.

The theme of this year’s parade is “Onward As One”.

It was a visual spectacle as the Red Lions performed a free fall, landing safely to cheers from the crowd. 

And to commemorate the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) 55th anniversary, an enhanced aerial display flew in formation across the heartlands, bringing the action closer to people at home.

Highlights from the parade:

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Singapore scrambles F-16 jets in response to civilian helicopter, Changi Airport operations briefly affected

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SINGAPORE: The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) scrambled two F-16 jets on Wednesday afternoon (Aug 9) in response to a civilian helicopter, said the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

“Preliminary checks indicate that the helicopter is of a civilian type and registered to a foreign company,” they added.

“After ensuring that our security was not compromised, the F-16s were subsequently stood down.”

The fighter jets were deployed at about 12.40pm.

Operations at Changi Airport were affected for about 40 minutes, between 12.50pm and 1.28pm, said the authorities.

A total of nine arrival flights and 11 departure flights experienced some delay.

MINDEF and CAAS were responding to CNA’s queries after the @alert5 account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, posted about an incident at 1.10pm.

Using online flight tracking service Flightradar24, the account user said fighter jets had been scrambled in response to a “Malaysian-registered helicopter” entering airspace off Changi Airport.

Defence journalist Roy Choo added on X that the F-16s were scrambled from Tengah Airbase and that the Malaysia-registered aircraft in question was a civilian AS350 or Squirrel helicopter.

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OCBC’s new anti-scam measure riles some users; bank clarifies only apps with risky permission settings flagged

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USERS’ CONCERNS

Some users took to the bank’s social media accounts after the security update kicked in on Saturday. They were unable to access their OCBC online banking services as they had the high-risk apps on their mobile phones.

Users shared screenshots on the bank’s Facebook with a prompt that read: “As the following apps are not from official app stores (eg. Google Play Store and Huawei AppGallery), they may be malicious or harmful”. The message then identified the apps and requested users uninstall them before proceeding with their online banking.

Users complained that apps such as popular Chinese video sharing platform Douyin, online payment platform Alipay, and LG’s smart appliance control app are among those flagged by OCBC’s security feature.

The bank has advised users to reinstall them from the official app stores to access their banking services.

Mr Chua explained that some apps are available on both official app stores and third party websites, but users should only download these apps from official stores as they would have gone through more stringent checks.

In response to customers who were concerned about their privacy, Mr Chua stated: “There is a misunderstanding that users think we can scan their phones and see their content but that is an absolute no, the user’s information does not go to the bank. It is localised on your phone and only you can see it.”

The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) said malware-related scams are often carried out through apps downloaded from third-party or dubious sites, and reminded consumers that they will be expected to bear losses arising from such scams.

The organisation echoed OCBC’s stance on privacy, saying the bank’s security features do not monitor customers’ phone activity, collect any personal data, nor identify the owner of the mobile device.

DEFENDING AGAINST MALWARE

OCBC said that since it rolled out the security enhancement on Saturday, the bank has not received any malware scam reports from customers who have updated their app with the new feature. It added this is in contrast to before Aug 5 when the bank received at least one malware scam report a day.

One elderly OCBC customer who supports the initiative said he likes the additional layer of protection.

“I have seen many people get scammed over the years, so I see this feature as a way to protect those of us who may not be so savvy or alert to spot non-legitimate and suspicious apps,” said Mr H.Y. Leong, 71, the director of a travel company.

Mr Chua said the bank is still seeking customer feedback on the security feature and is looking at ways to make it more convenient for users.

He added that the security feature is an opportunity for users to take a closer look at the OCBC-flagged apps and make an informed decision if they should continue allowing those apps on their devices.

“At the same time we want the customers to (think about) why OCBC has flagged these apps as high-risk. We (should) question why certain apps need permission and access to (certain functions on your phone). Malicious apps often pose as innocent services or e-commerce apps,” he said.

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OCBC’s new anti-scam measure upsets some users; bank clarifies only apps with risky permission settings flagged

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In: South-East Asia

USERS’ CONCERNS

Some users took to the bank’s social media accounts after the security update kicked in on Saturday. Those with high-risk apps on their mobile phones were unable to access their OCBC online banking services.

Users shared screenshots on the bank’s Facebook with a prompt that read: “As the following apps are not from official app stores (eg. Google Play Store and Huawei AppGallery), they may be malicious or harmful”. The message then identified the apps and requested users uninstall them before proceeding with their online banking.

Users complained that apps such as popular Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin, online payment platform Alipay, and LG’s smart appliance control app are among those flagged by OCBC’s security feature.

The bank has advised users to reinstall them from the official app stores to access their banking services.

Mr Chua explained that some apps are available on both official app stores and third-party websites, but users should only download these apps from official stores as they would have gone through more stringent checks.

In response to customers who were concerned about their privacy, Mr Chua stated: “There is a misunderstanding that users think we can scan their phones and see their content but that is an absolute no, the user’s information does not go to the bank. It is localised on your phone and only you can see it.”

The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) said malware-related scams are often carried out through apps downloaded from third-party or dubious sites, and reminded consumers that they will be expected to bear losses arising from such scams.

The organisation reiterated OCBC’s stance on privacy, saying the bank’s security features do not monitor customers’ phone activity, collect any personal data, or identify the owner of the mobile device.

DEFENDING AGAINST MALWARE

OCBC said that since it rolled out the security enhancement on Saturday, the bank has not received any malware scam reports from customers who have updated their app with the new feature. It added this is in contrast to before Aug 5 when the bank received at least one malware scam report a day.

One elderly OCBC customer who supports the initiative said he likes the additional layer of protection.

“I have seen many people get scammed over the years, so I see this feature as a way to protect those of us who may not be so savvy or alert to spot non-legitimate and suspicious apps,” said Mr HY Leong, 71, the director of a travel company.

Mr Chua said the bank is still seeking customer feedback on the security feature and is looking at ways to make it more convenient for users.

He added that the security feature is an opportunity for users to take a closer look at the OCBC-flagged apps and make an informed decision if they should continue allowing those apps on their devices.

“At the same time, we want the customers to (think about) why OCBC has flagged these apps as high-risk. We (should) question why certain apps need permission and access to (certain functions on your phone). Malicious apps often pose as innocent services or e-commerce apps,” he said.

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Rahul Gandhi: Congress MP blames Indian PM Modi for Manipur crisis

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Rahul GandhiGetty Images

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “murdering Mother India” in violence-hit Manipur state.

“They killed India in Manipur. Their politics killed India in Manipur,” Mr Gandhi said in parliament amid uproar from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

He was speaking during a no-confidence motion debate that the opposition have brought against Mr Modi’s government.

A vote is due on the motion on Thursday after the debate ends.

Mr Modi’s government won’t lose the vote as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have a majority in parliament.

But opposition leaders say the debate will force Mr Modi to speak on the ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur state.

More than 150 people have died and tens of thousands have been displaced in Manipur since early May, when ethnic clashes broke out between the majority Meitei group and the tribal Kuki minority. Mr Modi only publicly addressed the violence weeks later, after a video that showed two women being paraded naked by a mob sparked global outrage.

Speaking in the house, Mr Gandhi said that for Mr Modi, Manipur was not important. “Our prime minister did not go to the state because for him, Manipur is not a part of India.”

The Congress party leader added, “They killed India in Manipur. Their politics has not just killed Manipur, but it has killed India in Manipur. They have murdered India in Manipur.”

Mr Gandhi’s comments sparked protests from BJP leaders who accused him of trivialising India’s name.

“You are not India, for India is not corrupt. India believes in merit, not in dynasty,” BJP MP and federal minister Smriti Irani said. The comment was a reference to the Nehru-Gandhi family, one of India’s most renowned political dynasties, that ruled India for much of its history since independence in 1947.

Mr Gandhi’s speech came days after he returned to parliament for the first time since he was convicted in a criminal defamation case.

He had lost his lawmaker status in March after he was sentenced to two years in jail. He was reinstated as MP on Monday, two days after the Supreme Court suspended his conviction.

On Monday, he visited the parliament building after paying respects to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the complex where he was welcomed by opposition leaders.

The parliament session, which began on 20 July, has been marked by protests from opposition leaders who have demanded that Mr Modi address the house on the violence in Manipur.

This is the second time that Mr Modi’s government is facing a no-confidence motion since it came to power in 2014. In 2018, a lawmaker had moved a motion over the issue of granting a special category status to Andhra Pradesh state. It was defeated after a 12-hour debate.

The ongoing no-confidence debate is also a chance for a newly-formed opposition alliance of 26 parties – called INDIA – to display their unity. The alliance, which was formed in July – aims to take on Mr Modi’s BJP in the general elections next year.

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