Singaporeans ring in new year with family, fireworks and getai performances

SINGAPORE – The year 2021 may have drawn to a close under grey skies, but the drizzle did not keep hundreds of people from turning up for an in-person countdown event in Tampines.

Some attendees cheered the opportunity to get out and about after the Covid-19 pandemic hampered most physical events last year, while others who turned up for the countdown at Our Tampines Hub said they were there for the performances.

Ms Ng Gek Heong, 28, an executive in the information technology industry, and her sister, pre-school teacher Ng Yu Ying, 22, decided to brave the rain to attend the performance by getai stars Hao Hao and Pei Fen.

Ms Ng Gek Heong said: “Although the pandemic hasn’t changed our lifestyles too much, we really missed live getai performances.” She added that she was glad that getai performances were brought back for the new year celebrations.

More than 500 attendees also enjoyed live performances by local artistes Jack and Rai and Sheikh Haikel during the ‘We Will Rock You’ concert.

Student Shreya Senthil, 16, who turned up for the celebrations with her brother and mother, said she had gone to the event to cap off a tough year of preparing for and completing her O-level examinations.

She said her family hoped that Covid-19 restrictions would ease further in the new year, and that they could go without masks in public once again.

In other parts of the island, Singaporeans welcomed the new year by participating in virtual community celebrations hosted by the People’s Association (PA) grassroot organisations.

Fifteen such virtual community celebrations took place across the different constituencies on Friday (Dec 31) evening, with activities such as musical skits, comedy shows, song and dance performances, as well as games and quizzes.

Such community countdown celebrations went virtual for the first time in 2020 due to the pandemic and returned as 2021 drew to a close.

One Singaporean ushering in the new year with a virtual community celebration was Madam Joyce Tham, 67, a personal assistant.

After her husband and her mother died in 2019, Madam Tham spent much of the time alone during the pandemic, only getting to see the rest of her family during sporadic visits.

But this year, her son, his wife and their two sons, have moved into her home while waiting for their home renovations to be completed, and they will be ringing in the new year together.

Madam Tham said: “As a people lover, the pandemic was a really hard time for me because I was alone most of the time, so I am really grateful that the situation is improving and that I get to spend this New Year’s eve with my family in my own home.”

Madam Tham, who lives in a jumbo flat on the ninth floor in Commonwealth, had full view of the fireworks display that was set off in Buona Vista – one of the ten fireworks displays in different heartland locations in Singapore.

These fireworks displays were organised by PA and were set off in open spaces in locations like Buona Vista and Bedok at the stroke of midnight.