The celebrations kicked off Sunday morning when sirens blared at 9:00 am (0100 GMT) before national TV and radio stations broadcast a 2012 recording of Lee Kuan Yew rereading the original declaration of independence.
"At 50 years, as we stand at a high base camp, we look back and marvel at how how far we have come," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised message
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who took over as premier in 2004, on Saturday said the festivities will "celebrate how we turned vulnerabilities into strengths" and "journeyed from Third World to First".
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Lee Kuan Yew, will be joined by leaders of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the parade at the historic Padang grounds, facing scenic Marina Bay.
The prime ministers of Malaysia and Thailand, along with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla are among regional leaders attending, along with officials from China, Australia and Japan.
Former colonial rulers Britain will be represented by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Prince Andrew, while the United States has sent former trade representative Ron Kirk
Some 250,000 spectators are expected to take part in the festivities from 6:00 pm (local time) -- among the largest in the city state's history -- which will include some 2,000 marchers, 50 military aircraft and 177 tanks and other security hardware.
Note
The English name of Singapore is derived from the Malay word, Singapura, itself derived from (Sanskrit: सिंहपुर Sinha=Lion, pura=City, literally Lion City)
Singapore became a republic on August 9, 1965, when it was ejected from the Malaysian federation following a stormy two-year union
Lee Kuan Yew, a British-trained lawyer, came to power in 1959 as prime minister when Britain granted the island a degree of self rule and stayed as premier until 1990
The People's Action Party, which Lee Kuan Yew co-founded, has ruled uninterrupted since independence and is widely credited with turning Singapore into one of the world's richest countries.
But it has also been criticised for silencing free speech, including by detaining political opponents or launching punative legal actions against them -- actions which have continued since his death on March 23,2015
Singapore's territory consists of the diamond-shaped main island, commonly referred to as Singapore Island in English and Pulau Ujong in Malay, and more than 60 significantly smaller islets; also, land reclamation has been used to expand Singapore's land area, which is highly urbanised.
About 5.5 million people live in Singapore (as of end-June 2014), 3.4 million of whom are citizens and the remaining 2.1 million are foreign nationals (consisting of 0.5 million permanent residents and 1.6 million non-permanent residents)
Singapore is an ethnically diverse country, where ethnic Chinese Singaporeans predominate with about 74.1% of the resident population, followed by significant minorities of Malays (13.4%), Indians (9.2%)
Prime Minster's of Singapore
1) Lee Kuan Yew - June 03,1959 to Nov 28,1990
2)Goh Chok Tong - Nov 28,1990 to August 12,2004
3)Lee Hsien Loong - assumed office on August 12,2004 and is the current PM
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