PEOPLE'S ASSOCIATION | Chingay2020

PA CELEBRATES 60 YEARS OF COMMUNITY BUILDING WITH CHINGAY

By: Nur Hadirah Bte Zaini

A performer, from the Passion Arts Contingent, holding up a handmade board showing one of the PA's values, 'Care'.

(PHOTO: Nur Shima)

This year’s Chingay event was held at the F1 Pit Building on Jan 31, 2020 and Feb 1, 2020 in celebration of People’s Association’s (PA) 60th anniversary of building social cohesion in Singapore since the 1960s.

Involving about 6,000 volunteers and performers, the theme for the 48th edition of Chingay parade is “Colours in Harmony” which represents Singapore’s multiculturalism and diversity.

Deviating from the usual traditional art forms, the event featured a specially crafted float, “Bridge of Harmony”, which was one of the main highlights for this year’s Chingay parade bringing attention to the spectators.

Co-created by over 20, 000 residents island wide as part of Chingay 2020 Community Engagement Programme (CEP), the PA60 “Bridge of Harmony” float symbolised the journey and efforts of PA in bringing and bridging the different communities in Singapore together over the past six decades.

“Chingay allows the idea of bonding with each other,” said 20-year-old Beatrice Chia, a student photographer covering Chingay this year. “Be it whether you are a performer or whether you are just volunteering for fun, I think it’s a very good place to make friends from different races.”

Over the years, Chingay’s growing popularity has allowed it to be associated as a harmonious annual event where local and international performers from all around the globe are able to connect with each other through their passion for performing arts.

Today, Chingay continues to bring various opportunities to its performers. Particularly, through this year’s theme, the creative team were given a challenge to arrange Chingay’s first-ever fusion dance item, “Harmony in Motion”, involving performers of all four different core races of Singapore.

The event ended with “Strength in Unity”, bamboo stick performance presented by 600 skilled percussionists, an apt of combined strength in unity in six different colours representing the different community values: diversity, inclusiveness, care, courage, innovation and excellence instilled in every Singaporean DNA.