Singapore Celebrates 56th National Day with Overseas Singaporeans Singapore, 19 July 2021 – Singapore Global Network (SGN) will be organising its first-ever worldwide National Day celebration for overseas Singaporeans and friends, from 7 to 9 August 2021. The virtual celebration, titled “Singapore @ Home”, aims to bring a slice of Singapore and the festivities around the nation’s 56th year of independence direct to the homes of Singaporean families and friends living abroad. 2 Leading up to National Day on 9 August 2021, “Singapore @ Home” will be hosted by actor-comedian Hossan Leong and comprise an exciting programme line-up featuring live music performances, short films, a play by Wild Rice, and appearances by local celebrities such as Dick Lee, Taufik Batisah, Nat Ho, Irene Ang, Suhaimi Yusof, Kumar, among others. 3 To cater to the overseas Singaporeans, there will also be virtual tours of Singapore and segments specially presented by Singaporeans who have gone abroad to pursue their dreams and are now living in different cities around the world. These segments will feature them sharing their personal stories, passions and more about the local communities where they are at. 4 Ms Karen Leo, Director of SGN, said, “The past year has been a challenging one for Singaporeans living abroad, with many sharing with us how much they miss home. This National Day, we wanted to do something special for them. With ‘Singapore @ Home’, we hope to bring together our global community of family and friends to celebrate the occasion and to connect with one another over our shared identity and experiences around the world.” 5 The entire six-hour programme will premiere live online on 7 August 2021, 10.00AM SGT and will be available for on-demand streaming up until 9 August 2021. Admission to “Singapore @ Home” is free and open to all. Registration is required and can be done online at SGN’s website (go.gov.sg/SGathome). Promoting community celebrations overseas 6 Beyond the “Singapore @ Home” event, SGN is also making available resources to promote ground-up celebrations among Singaporean communities around the world. These include funding support for events organised, both virtual and physical, which organisers can use to cover event expenses and other National Day collaterals produced for the celebrations. Applications for funding are currently open and will close on 31 August 2021. More information on SGN’s funding programme can be found on its website (go.gov.sg/SGNfunding). 7 Other resources such as Singapore-themed buntings, family activities and crafts, local recipes by fellow Singaporeans, National Day songs playlist and Singapore trivia quizzes have also been made available for communities to use for their own local celebrations around the world. These resources can be accessed on SGN’s website (go.gov.sg/SGNcelebrates). Overseas Singaporeans looking to join a community celebration can also visit the website to find one happening near them. ------------ For media enquiries or interview requests, please contact: Cheryl Lee Senior Lead, Digital Marketing & Communications Tel: +65 6832 6901 Email: [email protected] Sherman Pun Head, Digital Marketing & Communications Tel: +65 6832 6281 Email: [email protected] About Singapore Global Network At Singapore Global Network, we are passionate about building connections and creating opportunities for people and businesses in Singapore. As a team under Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB), we seek to bring together people with a shared affinity for Singapore and to grow Singapore’s overseas networks by building meaningful and lasting relationships with family, friends and partners across the globe. To connect with Singapore Global Network, join us as a member and be a part of our global community at www.singaporeglobalnetwork.gov.sg, follow us on social media (@singaporeglobalnetwork) or drop us an email at [email protected]. Annex: Singapore @ Home Programme Line-up TIME HIGHLIGHTS (SGT) 10:00 AM Live Main Show Hosted by Hossan Leong, the main show features recollections and conversations of what home means to both local and overseas Singaporeans. It will feature local celebrities such as Kumar, Irene Ang, Sylvia Chan and Suhaimi Yusof sharing on the topics of food, COVID-19 and our new normal, the future, and what makes Singapore home. Documentary style short films will highlight places in Singapore such as the changing landscapes of Tiong Bahru and the Rail Corridor, and feature profiles that have returned home to chase the Singapore Dream and those who rallied together during the COVID- 19 pandemic. Singaporeans overseas will share on their decision to relocate, their experiences in these foreign countries, and what they miss most about Singapore. There will also be performances by local artistes brb., Taufik Batisah and Disco Hue. Ending off the main show will be a musical performance by Dick Lee. Dick Lee will also share about his career journey starting with his hit song, “Fried Rice Paradise”, followed by his heartfelt personal experience of feeling homesick while working overseas, and the inspiration for him to write “Home”. 11:00 AM Discover Singapore: Walking Tours (Part 1) We explore Singapore's famous attractions, enjoys delicious local food, and check out sights and sounds in Singapore that our global SGN community has voted for. In part 1, we explore Singapore’s morning skyline and the Marina Bay area. 11:20 AM Around the World Spotlight (USA): Cooking with Emily Get a glimpse into the life of Emily Lim, Chef and Founder of Dabao Singapore, as she takes you to some of her favourite food spots in San Francisco and recreates a taste of home. Bio Singapore-born and bred, Emily fell in love with California and moved to San Francisco in 2014 to build her professional experience in fine dining and casual dining establishments. With her undying love for the hustle, a long- term commitment to heritage foods and food culture, and a deep desire to build cultural bridges and to give back, she grasped the opportunity to create something that was missing in San Francisco - authentic Singaporean hawker foods. Birthed during the pandemic in hopes to provide jobs for her peers, Dabao Singapore comes from the heart as an homage to her female ancestors who used to peddle foods for a living in developing Singapore. 11:35 AM Around the World Spotlight (Hong Kong): Bunga Sayang Listen to a modern rendition of ‘Bunga Sayang’ by students from the Singapore International School Hong Kong. ‘Bunga Sayang’ was composed by Mr Dick Lee. The Peranakan folk music is a theme song from Dick Lee’s musical “Kampung Amber”. The song was an often-sung staple of the National Day Parade. It captures the narrative of an equatorial Singapore, a home with love and hope for all. 11:40 AM Around the World Spotlight (UK): Standing Together, Heart to Heart What does home mean to us? What does multiculturalism look like now? 7 Singaporean creatives from the UK reflect and celebrate our nation’s diversity with favourite songs, spoken word poetry and heartfelt monologues. 12:10 PM Discover Singapore: Walking Tours (Part 2) We explore Singapore's famous attractions, enjoys delicious local food, and check out sights and sounds in Singapore that our global SGN community has voted for. In part 2, we spend lunch time in Singapore’s CBD, Raffles Place. 12:30 PM Play: Grandmother Tongue by Wild Rice In a Singapore where dialects have been losing relevance for generations, Grandmother Tongue traces a young man’s struggle to connect with his 84- year-old Teochew-speaking grandmother. Thomas Lim’s funny, insightful play examines the social costs of our mother- tongue language policy and the erasure of dialects in today’s Singapore. In ways both humorous and heart-breaking, Grandmother Tongue explores how our identities are bound up with the languages that we use and the ones that we lose. 2:10 PM Around the world spotlight (Netherlands): Mandarin Tree Chinese School Playgroup Session Storytelling with Mandarin Tree Chinese School Join Karen 老师 in the Netherlands as she narrates a local story in Chinese for your little learners. Play a game with Mandarin Tree Chinese School Join Karen 老师 as she shares a game for you and your young ones to play together and learn Chinese. Get crafty with Mandarin Tree Chinese School Time to get crafty! Follow along as Karen 老师 takes you and your children on an arts and craft session. Bio Karen Tang(Karen 老师) is the founder of Mandarin Tree Chinese school in the Netherlands. As a qualified Chinese teacher with 4 years of Chinese language teaching training in the National Institute of Education (Singapore), 3 years of English and Psychology degree training and 7 years of teaching experience in a primary school in Singapore, the Chinese language is in her blood. She moved to the Netherlands from Singapore in 2013 is currently living in Haarlem. Being abroad made her realise the importance of passing on the knowledge of Chinese language and culture to her children as it is integral to their cultural identity. With most of the Chinese schools in the Netherlands focusing on rote learning, she decided to start Mandarin Tree Chinese school with a fun, interactive and creative style of teaching as she believes that children learn best through play. 2:45 PM Around the world spotlight (Australia): Storytelling with Devi Palanisamy Story of Sang Nila Utama Calling all little adventurers! Join Devi Palanisamy in Melbourne for this fun and engaging storytelling session on how Singapura got its name. Attack of the Swordfish “Next stop, Redhill”. Devi Palanisamy shares the legend of Redhill bilingually in English and Tamil, of how one brave young boy saved our little island with his wit.