The National Day celebrations at our Bedok Kampong

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To think that for a brief window in our kampong years - from 1960 to 1963 - Singapore’s National Day was not the August 9th we’ve celebrated for the past 60 years, but June 3rd, marking the moment Singapore attained internal self‑governance from the United Kingdom in 1959 before merging with Malaysia on September 16th, 1963. It was a different rhythm of nationhood, an earlier milestone that sat at the threshold of the Singapore we would eventually become. In fact celebrations were held at both Bedok Girls’ and Boys’ Schools during those years.

This first‑day cover, issued on 3 June 1960, commemorates that very first National Day. Addressed to our mother just before she married our dad and moved into our Bedok kampong house, it is more than postal history - it is a small, paper‑thin bridge to the world our parents stepped into as newlyweds, a world where Singapore was still finding its voice and its footing.

Thank you, Mom, for sharing this precious artefact with all of us here. In its careful handwriting, its stamp, its date, it carries the quiet pride of a young nation and the tender beginnings of our own family story.



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