Singapore's National Day falls on August 9 and commemorates independence from Malaysia in 1965. Most Singaporeans are familiar with the pomp of the National Day Parade (NDP) and accompanying fireworks. To celebrate this occasion, the library has curated some titles for your reading pleasure, along with links to external sites featuring interesting information about our little red dot.
The TP Archives has also just published a spotlight on NDP celebrations in TP! Check it out here!
Singapore Literature
Food Republic: A Singapore Literary Banquet
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The Community Cat Chronicles
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Catty behavior. Fur-midable presences. Purr-fect neighbors. The Community Cat Chronicles is a collection of linked stories about the cats, not quite house pets and certainly not strays, who live around the apartment blocks of Avenue 1. They mark and defend their territory, but share it with the human residents who devote time and resources to keeping them fed and healthy. A tender, heart-warming portrait of a neighborhood shared by cats and humans, The Community Cat Chronicles is filled with rich storytelling and vividly drawn characters, and is sure to be beloved by animal lovers everywhere.
The throne
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This is a story of person suffering from schizophrenia in modern Singapore. The narrative traces the alienation and failures that he faces from teenage years to adulthood which result in his mental disorder. It is both realistic and allegorical at the same time and makes use of poetry to bring together parts of the prose seamlessly. The novel also attempts to explore the intricate relationship between insanity, creativity and spirituality. It is through the understanding and mastering of this delicate yet fertile balance and unity that the healing process takes place, but it is not without much suffering and sacrifice.
How we disappeared
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In the year 2000, twelve-year-old Kevin is sitting beside his ailing grandmother when he overhears a mumbled confession. He sets out to discover the truth, wherever it might lead, setting in motion a chain of events he never could have foreseen.
The Paper Bark Tree Mystery
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*SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER* 'Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought richly to life' CATRIONA MCPHERSON 'Charming' RHYS BOWEN 'One of the most likeable heroines in modern literature' SCOTSMAN _________ Su Lin is doing her dream job: assistant at Singapore's brand new detective agency. Until Bald Bernie decides a 'local girl' can't be trusted with private investigations, and replaces her with a new secretary - pretty, privileged, and white. So Su Lin's not the only person finding it hard to mourn Bernie after he's found dead in the filing room. And when her best friend's dad is accused, she gets up to some sleuthing work of her own in a bid to clear his name. Su Lin finds out that Bernie may have been working undercover, trading stolen diamonds for explosives from enemy troops. Was he really the upright English citizen he claimed to be? Meanwhile, a famous assassin commits his worst crime yet, and disappears into thin air. Rumours spread that he may be dangerously close to home. Beneath the stifling, cloudless Singaporean summer, earthquakes of chaos and political unrest are breaking out. When a tragic loss shakes Su Lin's personal world to its core, she becomes determined to find the truth. But in dark, hate-filled times, truth has a price - and Su Lin must decide how much she's willing to pay for it. _________ Praise for Ovidia Yu: 'One of Singapore's finest living authors'South China Morning Post 'Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most beguiling narrator heroine I've met in a long while' Catriona McPherson 'Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu's teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels' Rhys Bowen 'A wonderful detective novel . . . a book that introduces one of the most likeable heroines in modern literature and should be on everyone's Must Read list' Scotsman 'Unassuming, brilliantly observant' SCMP
Costume: a novel
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In the 1910s, thirteen-year-old Leong Ping Hung comes to Singapore from China to seek his fortune. Decades later, he is a lonely old man mourning his shattered dreams. His granddaughter Yu Sau struggles to take care of him while trying to make sense of her own life in a rapidly changing country. He speaks Cantonese, and she Mandarin - but will they be able to find common ground through a shared love of Cantonese opera? As Yu Sau looks to her family's past to understand her present, she begins to uncover the secrets that went missing along with the old man's cherished opera costume.
Ponti
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Seventeen years later, Circe is struggling through a divorce in fraught and ever-changing Singapore when a project comes up at work: a remake of the cult seventies horror film series 'Ponti', the very project that defined Amisa's short-lived film career. Suddenly Circe is knocked off balance: by memories of the two women she once knew, by guilt, and by a past that threatens her conscience.
Told from the perspectives of all three women, Ponti is about friendship and memory, about the things we do when we're on the cusp of adulthood that haunt us years later. Beautifully written by debut author Sharlene Teo, and enormously atmospheric, Ponti marks the launch of an exciting new literary voice in the vein of Zadie Smith.
Nimita's place: a novel
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It is 1944 in India and Nimita Khosla yearns to attend university to become an engineer, but her parents want a different life for her. As she accepts her fate and marries, religious upheaval is splitting the country and forcing her family to find a new home.
In 2014, her granddaughter, molecular biologist Nimita Sachdev, escapes India to run away from the prospect of an arranged marriage. Staking out a future in Singapore, she faces rising anger against immigrants and uncertainty about her new home.
Two generations apart, these two women walk divergent paths but face the same quandaries: who are we, and what is home?
Singapore Food
Singapore Hawker Food
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A visual guide to the country's delicious street food On the hunt for the ultimate food experience in Singapore? This guide to the city's popular hawker dishes will help the adventurous visitor discover why Singapore is known as a street food paradise. Find out what goes into these yummy-looking dishes - from snacks such as Nyonya Kueh to one-dish meals like Char Kway Teow - and learn to order them just like a local. Each entry includes a color photograph of the dish as well as a description of what is in it. And for those clueless about what is kopi-si siew dai or mee tai mak, the book includes a glossary of local drinks available and also a visual glossary of noodle types. "If you want the real food in Singapore, get yourself to a hawker center." --Gordon Ramsay
The Food of Singapore Malays
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This is not a cookbook. It is the unwritten story of a people.Between the vast Indian and Pacific oceans lies a realm of extraordinary natural abundance: the Malay Archipelago, known widely as the Nusantara. These islands of Southeast Asia have nourished the lives of indigenous Malays throughout the centuries and nurtured the diverse peoples that have set foot on their shores. Today, the Malays make up less than a fifth of the population in Singapore, a city with ancient ties to the Malay world. This book explores their food, not just as a means of sustenance but as a cultural activity. Inheriting the Nusantara's rich flavours, Singapore Malays have a grand culinary heritage reflecting their worldviews, social values and historical interactions with other cultures. Through close examination of their daily objects, customs, art and literature, these pages reveal how the food Malays enjoy is deeply embedded in different aspects of their identity.Following the broad sweep of Malay cuisine's evolution - from the 7th-century kingdom of Srivijaya to the 21st-century emporium of cosmopolitan Singapore - this book traces the continuity and dynamism of a shared cultural consciousness. Sumptuously served with stunning photographs, delicious recipes and diligent research, this is essential reading for anyone - gourmets and amateurs alike - hungry for a deeper understanding of the relationship between people and their food.
The way of kueh : savouring & saving Singapore's heritage desserts
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Much more than just a collection of recipes, The Way of Kueh delves into the topic with a lyrical, insightful and practical approach. It traverses kueh families and genres, key kueh-making techniques, the seasonality and social significance of kueh, and the importance of both tradition and innovation. Local kueh artisans from all walks of life share their stories and perspectives in interviews, while short essays muse on the histories, regional and colonial influences, science and symbolism behind this most diverse of food genres.
Early hawkers in Singapore, 1920s to 1930s
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The hawker centre is an integral part of Singapore's urban landscape. As they are now easily found all around the island, many may not be aware that the concept of housing hawkers within designated space was not common before Singapore's independence in 1965. Instead, hawkers plied the streets on foot, toting their wares in portable makeshift stalls. Illustrator Chang Yang captured the street hawkers from the 20s and 30s in a series titled "Our Vanishing Street Hawkers" (消失了的过街小贩), which ran in of the Singapore's Chinese evening dailies, the Lianhe Wanbao, from 1987 - 1988. Accompanying the illustrations were informative passages, describing in details how the hawkers conducted business, where they could be found, the types of customers they attracted and even the hawker's outfits. This book published by Focus Publishing and the National Heritage Board features the full series of 128 illustrations, with their accompanying text translated into English by Dr. Lai Chee Kien. Dr. Lai also writes in detail on the history of hawker centres in Singapore, and presents a visual and analysis of Chan Yang's illustrations.
Straits Times Articles
Newspapers are a very good source of current and reliable information, including on the NDP. You can read the latest NDP related articles from the Straits Times here, or browse some selected articles below:
Are you a more of a visual learner? Check out a a collection of current and historical NDP photos below!
NDP Songs
An annual NDP highlight since the 1980s are the NDP songs. Browse the entire list since 1985 here. Love them? Hate them? Have a favourite? Check out a selection of the best at the site below.
Kit Chan has re-recorded the classic song Home for its 25th anniversary in 2023. Watch it below!
Singapore Society
90 years in Singapore
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Irene Lim writes vividly about her life, family and friends over a period of 90 years. Except for a few years spent in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, during the Japanese Occupation, Irene's account is also a small Singapore Story.
Seven Hundred Years
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Assessments of Singapore's history invariably revolve around Sir Stamford Raffles' arrival in 1819. Before this date - we've been told - "nothing very much appears to have happened in Singapore". Pre-1819 Singapore was a sleepy, historically insignificant fishing village, little more than the "occasional resort of pirates". This ambitious book, co-written by four of Singapore's foremost historians, offers an assertive re-evaluation of that view, firmly situating Singapore's starting point seven hundred years ago. Drawing on a multi-disciplinary range of archival, textual and cartographical records, as well as the latest archaeological discoveries, the authors cast a singular historical trajectory for Singapore over the past seven centuries, animating its history like never before. Written in a compelling and accessible manner, and richly illustrated with more than 200 artefacts, photographs, maps, art works and ephemera, this volume builds upon the foundations of an earlier book, Singapore: A 700-Year History. Extensively rewritten to incorporate ground-breaking research findings, Seven Hundred Years: A History of Singapore widens the historical lens and offers a vital new perspective on the story of Singapore.
Festival fieldnotes : our rites and rituals in Singapore
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Dive into the origins of more than 30 local festivals and hear directly from Singaporeans through intimate oral interviews. Be invited into their homes, churches, synagogues and temples through the lens of veteran Singaporean photographers. See how festival-goers adapt diverse cultural practices into their own celebrations through food and worship.
Festival Fieldnotes: Our Rites and Rituals in Singapore is a diary of cultural snapshots showcasing the heritage of local ethnic communities. It is a celebration of multicultural society in the 21st century. From stunning Orchard road light-ups to cozy homemade revelry, our local festivals deserve to be heard, seen and cherished.
Leluhur: Singapore's Kampong Gelam
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Once the centre of trade and commerce connecting Singapore to the rest of the Malay Archipelago, Kampong Gelam served as a religious, intellectual, and social hub for the Malays in Singapore. It also functioned as a Pilgrim Hub for pilgrims bound for the Haj.
In 1989, the Singapore government gazetted Kampong Gelam and accorded it the status of a conservation area. At the heart of it all, Kampong Gelam was home to modern Singapore's pioneers, entrepreneurs, craftsmen, and residents.
200 : points in Singapore's natural history
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200 : a natural history" is an exhibition at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum that is part of Singapore's Bicentennial.
Singapore Tamil Muslims
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This publication is based on the 2015 Tamil edition of "Singapore Tamil Muslims". It is an updated edition with more recent developments and events.
Picturing the pandemic : a visual record of COVID-19 in Singapore
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Picturing the Pandemic: A Visual Record of COVID-19 in Singapore is the National Museum of Singapore’s first exhibition introducing the museum’s new Collecting Contemporary Singapore initiative. This initiative seeks to document contemporary events and developments in Singapore by collecting related artefacts and stories through engagement with the public. With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the museum commissioned five local photographers – Bob Lee, Brian Teo, Edwin Koo, How Hwee Young and Zakaria Zainal − and two filmmakers – Adar Ng and Dave Lim – to visually document how it was experienced in Singapore.
The Singapore mall generation : history, imagination, community
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This collection of 10 essays and a foreword by 12 academics, arts and cultural studies researchers and practitioners, traces ethnographically the evolution of Singapore malls and their place in shaping memories and communities. It focuses on ‘older’ malls of the 1980s and 1990s, whose strata-title ownership—where different entrepreneurs own particular spaces in the mall—enabled and encouraged what might be termed a ‘bottom-up’ evolution of shop types and ancillary mall activities according to the eclectic interests of individual shop-owners, local customers and other mall participants.
Sanctuary & stronghold : SGH at 200
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A commemoration of the Bicentenary of Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Sanctuary and Stronghold pays tribute to the staff of SGH from past to present generations. The stories in this book honour the staff and the policy-makers: their can-do spirit, dedication, discipline and hard work, which give SGH its identity as the People’s Hospital. Attention has been paid to the context and history of the struggles in the early years, alongside considerations of present-day efforts to bring healthcare in Singapore to greater heights.
Singapore Ageing
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Ageing is a part of life that all Singaporeans must face and, in fact, all families will have next of kins who will undergo that life stage. Singapore Ageing assembles a team of researchers, administrators, practitioners, advocates and academics from varied social service and care sectors, to share their thoughts, concerns and future challenges faced by an ageing Singapore in different arenas.With the Singapore demography showing a greying trend, it is increasingly vital for the government and the social, health and economic sectors to meet the needs of an ageing nation. The appropriate services and support have to be in place to respond to the issues faced by seniors. This edited volume serves as a useful resource for those who are working or researching in the field of ageing.
The Singapore synthesis : innovation, inclusion, inspiration
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Ravi Menon is the Institute of Policy Studies' 9th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book is an edited collection of his four IPS-Nathan Lectures, delivered in July 2021, and includes highlights of his question-and-answer segments with our virtual audience.
Mr Menon examines how Singapore will come under pressure from four tectonic shifts altering the global landscape. Although still relevant, Singapore's guiding ethos of adaptation, meritocracy, and pragmatism may no longer be sufficient. To secure our future, we will need more innovation, inclusion, and inspiration. What does an innovative economy look like? What does it take to create a more inclusive society? What does it mean to be an inspiring nation? How does it all hold together in a refreshed Singapore Synthesis?
Resilience, dynamism, trust : 50 landmark statements by MAS leaders.
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore's central bank and integrated financial regulator. As a central bank, MAS promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth through the conduct of monetary policy and close macroeconomic surveillance and analysis. It manages Singapore's exchange rate, official foreign reserves, and liquidity in the banking sector. As an integrated financial supervisor, MAS fosters a sound financial services sector through its prudential oversight of all financial institutions in Singapore — banks, insurers, capital market intermediaries, financial advisors and financial market infrastructures. It is also responsible for well-functioning financial markets, sound conduct, and investor education. MAS also works with the financial industry to promote Singapore as a dynamic international financial centre. It facilitates the development of infrastructures, adoption of technology, and upgrading of skills in the financial industry.
This 50th anniversary compilation provides convenient access to the thinking behind MAS' policies and strategies as they have evolved, through 50 landmark statements by its leaders.
TP Archives
Did you know that the TP Archives has a collection of ephemera, memorabilia and videos related to National Day celebrations through the years? Or did you know that TP contributed items to the National Day fun pack? Check them out at the link below!
Please remember to sign in (in the upper right hand corner) to see all search results, including videos.
Journal Articles
Art in Transit
Many of us take the MRT daily, but did you stop to notice the artworks on the walls, or even on the floor?
Many MRT stations actually contain public art. Under the Art in Transit (AIT) programme, individuals are commissioned by the LTA to create unique pieces for MRT stations and to celebrate Singapore history. Read more about the AIT programme and view samples of the works at the link below!
Interested to find out even more? There are published books with detailed information on the various artworks, thought processes and revisions that went into their creation. Find out more in the Art in Transit books, further below.
Art in transit : Downtown Line Singapore
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Art in transit Downtown Line Singapore introduce 32 artworks installed along the country's fifth MRT line, which connects Bukit Panjang to the city and Tampines.
Rally Speeches
An annual National Day highlight is the National Day Rally Speeches, delivered by the Prime Minister on a Sunday one or two weeks after National Day itself.
Listening to the speeches is very different from reading them, especially if the speaker is a good orator. You can watch or listen to all of the National Day Rally Speeches from 1966 to 2021 here.
The National Anthem
You may have sung it for years, but do you know what the National Anthem means, or who composed it? Read and listen about Mr. Zubir Said below?
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