NDP Volunteers Standing In For President Halimah Yacob and PM Lee Go Viral

On June 24, those who attended the rehearsal for the National Day Parade (NDP) had to do a double-take during when Singapore’s president and prime minister arrived to inspect the contingent and wave to the crowd at the Padang. 

You see, President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong were not there in person. Instead, they were replaced by two NDP volunteers, as is customary for all rehearsals and preview shows. And this year, the stand-ins really delivered.

First up was the lady standing in for President Halimah. She was totally dressed for her part, wearing a red blouse that looked just like the one our president had on last year, and a pearl necklace.

Of course, the audience loved it.

In a TikTok, one netizen jokingly asked for Mediacorp to “please find [the stand-in] and sign her”, adding that she “played her part super well”.

“The walk is the same too,” another netizen laughed, with a different netizen comparing the stand-in to a “cosplayer”. 

“I didn’t even realise it wasn’t her at first,” a netizen wrote.

Another netizen who attended the rehearsal shared a video of the stand-in for PM Lee having his moment on-stage.

The audience burst into cheers and momentary laughter when the camera zoomed in on the stand-in on the podium, ‘cos well, this young chap definitely doesn’t resemble PM Lee.

“Lee Hsien Loong looking a bit different,” one netizen laughed, while another joked that PM Lee had “aged 30 years backwards”.

Finally, one netizen argued for the two volunteers to get a pay raise, with many adding that the two stand-ins performed their duties really well.

Photos: aulydia/TikTok, trashkendra/TikTok