What’s your favourite item in yesterday’s NDP? The fireworks? The flypast? The aerial acrobatics? The jetskis?
I didn’t watch most of the performances after dark, but my favourite “performance”, exclusive on Channel 8, has to be the wish for “国泰平安” from members of the public who were interviewed at Marina Bay. Those of us who are not so blur will realise that it ought to be “国泰民安”. It’s such a simple and common phrase, that there is practically no excuse for saying it wrongly. Our Chinese cousins in Beijing, Taiwan and perhaps even Hongkong, must have found it a humourous, anti-climactic entertainment after all that extravagant world class display.
Our mainstream media is probably not censoring the right things. A few suggestions to avoid such embarrassing moments:
1. Interview only foreign talent from China, Taiwan. Give them a bit of money to pretend that they are Singaporeans.
2. Rehearse the replies and correct any errors before the final take.
3. Give interviewees a script to read from. Reject those who can’t read.
4. Go back to the good old days at Caldecott and dub over the “raw” replies.
Since you’re wayanging, why not just wayang all the way?
