THE POSSIBILITIES OF A POSSIBICITY

If you are an ardent fan of PIONEER and cyberpioneer, you would have noticed the many wonderful photos of the National Day Parade (NDP) fireworks that we have published.

But all this would not have been possible if not for The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore's sponsorship.

"We sponsored the best view of the NDP that you can't get anywhere!" said the hotel's Director of Loss Prevention Redha Abdullah.

Not only did The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore allow the various media organisations to set up their cameras at the rooftop of the hotel, they also sponsored the NDP's Sponsorship Launch in October last year.

Explaining the hotel's decision to join in the NDP sponsorship, Mr Redha said: "As a corporate citizen of Singapore, we feel it is only natural for us to support the largest celebration in the nation."

"We certainly look forward to future opportunities to support and celebrate with the nation, be it for National Day or for any other similar events."

At the NDP Appreciation Dinner held on 27 Aug at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen presented mementos and certificates of appreciation to some 90 major participating organisations and sponsors.

Dr Ng praised the NDP organisers for being bold and creative in coming up with the idea of building a floating platform to celebrate NDP.

"This reflected a strong desire and self-motivation to give Singaporeans something special," he said.

Adding that they were not bound by man-made constraints, he told the organisers: "You will agree with me that you overcame the challenges and turned them into winning solutions."

Dr Ng also thanked the sponsors and participants whose contributions truly made Singapore a 'city of possibilities'.

"To me, the most significant contribution of the organisers, the participants and the sponsors who made this possible was how we demonstrated the 'can-do' spirit," he said.

"The real achievement was that you walked the talk, you made people believe through the NDP show that we are a 'city of possibilities', that we can achieve great things, if we act on our dreams and not be daunted by obstacles."

More than 150,000 people watched the parade from the Marina Bay Seating Gallery during the various rehearsal days as well as on 9 Aug.

Another 1.8 million people watched the parade on television, via webcast and from various spots around Marina Bay.