Celebrating our birthday with Singapore

Text: Wong SY

For Lawrence Loh, Eddy Cheong and Soong Bao Yi, sharing their birthday with the nation has shaped their identities in ways both patriotic and personal. Spanning three generations – from a pioneer born before independence to a millennial growing up in the digital age – these three individuals offer a glimpse into what it means to grow up with Singapore, quite literally.

A birthday that became a national day

Lawrence, born on 9 August 1959, spent his early childhood in a time when birthdays were rarely celebrated. Back then, fragile birth certificates were hidden away in drawers, and families focused on getting by rather than throwing parties.

But all that changed in 1965, when Singapore became an independent nation – on his sixth birthday. 

“My parents were so excited,” Lawrence recalls. “The joke was that they picked the date just for me,” he says with a smile. From that point on, his birthday became more than personal – it became national.

Lawrence (far right) and his family, all decked out in red for his birthday celebration with Singapore.

His pride in the nation shaped the course of his life. As a student, Lawrence joined the National Police Cadet Corps, and later, as a national service reservist, he returned to the parade grounds as an officer. He even extended his service to the age of 57 – well beyond the usual 50-year mark – retiring as a Colonel.

In 2002, he commanded Hewlett Packard’s contingent in the National Day Parade (NDP), proudly representing his company and country.

An electrical & electronic engineering graduate from 1988, Lawrence is today a training consultant with Beacon Consulting, helping organisations embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and strategic planning.

“NTU always taught us to be at the cutting edge,” he says. 

And that spirit of camaraderie and community has never left him. He fondly recalls celebrating National Day on campus with hostel mates who substituted a birthday cake with durians picked from the wild.

“Only two or three seeds per person,” he laughs. “But it was fun, and it tasted better because we shared it.”

That sense of togetherness and legacy now continues with his newborn grandson, who joins the family just as Singapore marks SG60. 

“I’ll make sure he grows up with our National Day traditions,” Lawrence beams.

From one patriot to another

That same national pride runs through Eddy, who was born 11 years later on 9 August 1970, into a very different Singapore – one that was young, ambitious and forging its identity.

Eddy may downplay the coincidence of his birthday – “I don’t feel extra special just because it’s National Day,” he says – but his actions tell another story.

The founder and CEO of Havend, an insurance advisory firm, Eddy is publishing an SG60 guidebook on managing Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings.

“It’s just my small way of giving back,” he says.

Eddy at the 2018 National Day Parade with his wife.

He calls himself part of the Majulah Generation – those born after independence who matured alongside the nation. Like Lawrence, his first taste of NDP involvement came during national service, when he helped set up the grandstand at the Padang under the hot sun. 

“It was sweaty work, but it felt meaningful, like I was preparing for my own birthday bash,” he jokes.

Though his own birthday celebrations are usually low-key family affairs, Eddy has never lost the joy of National Day.

“My kids love the flags, the fireworks, the wearing of red. We’ve only ever gotten preview parade tickets, though – the ballot doesn’t give you perks for being born on 9 August!” he says with a laugh.

A graduate of NTU’s accountancy programme in 1994, Eddy remembers how national pride was stitched into daily campus life.

“Every hall raised the flag weeks in advance. I played carrom, and helped run the hall bulletin. I made lifelong friends.”

This year, as he turns 55, Eddy marks another milestone – becoming eligible to withdraw from his CPF. Ever the financial planner, he’s considering a symbolic withdrawal of $60, in honour of both birthdays. “Every dollar counts,” he quips, “but maybe I’ll go wild this once.”

And as he reflects on his journey, Eddy finds himself thinking of the next generation – just as Lawrence did with his grandson. That’s when the story turns to someone who represents this next wave.

Passing the torch to the next generation

Enter Bao Yi, born 9 August 1994, the same year Eddy graduated from NTU.

When Bao Yi was in kindergarten, her teacher announced they’d be celebrating National Day. She immediately raised her hand and said: “That's my birthday!”

Amused, the teacher led the class in a rendition of “Happy Birthday” alongside the National Day songs.

“I didn’t really know what National Day meant then,” Bao Yi says. “To me, it was just my day.”

Bao Yi looks forward to National Day every year.

But as she grew, so did her sense of belonging. “In primary school, when I learnt the meaning of songs like Home and Where I Belong , I realised that I wasn’t just celebrating me – I was celebrating all of us.”

By age 12, she began ordering her own birthday cake every year – with the Singapore flag printed on top. It became a beloved tradition. “My friends and family always sing the birthday song twice. Once for me, once for Singapore.”

A 2018 graduate of NTU’s School of Humanities, Bao Yi now works at Apple as an annotation analyst, a professional who labels and categorises data to improve algorithms and train AI systems.

It was her first job – and she’s been there for six years. “Maybe the ‘Technological’ in NTU helped me land it,” she jokes.

For her, National Day is more than just flags and fireworks. Every July, she unfurls the flag outside her home. She never misses the parade.

“When Majulah Singapura plays, I sing it loud, hand on heart.” And then comes the tradition: after the anthem, friends and family turn to her and shout: “Happy birthday, Bao Yi!”

Reflecting on SG60, she draws a parallel between her own journey and Singapore’s. “We’ve both come a long way. From kampongs to a smart nation. From a five-year-old not knowing what National Day meant to someone who now contributes, however small, to that future.”

This article first appeared in issue 6 of U, the NTU alumni magazine.