The New Guards will march off from Citibank Orchard, march down
Orchard Road to the Istana Gates. The Old Guards would march out
from inside the Istana. After the ceremony, the New Guards march
into the Istana, and the Old Guards will march out to the road
after Plaza Singapura and fall out there. The New Guards march off
at 1745, the Old Guards will march out at 1815 (End of
ceremony).
Unfortunately my website is down for reconstruction, it has a
run-through of the ceremony. I'll copy the older version here. Do
take note that the following is my copyrighted material...
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The Istana Changing of the Guards ceremony takes place in the
evening of the first Sunday of every month. A highly public event,
many Singaporeans and tourists turn up to watch the precise drills
of both the Guards and the SAF Provost's Silent Precision Drill
Squad. The ceremonial guards for the Istana is provided by the SAF
Provost Unit.
At 1750, the old guards (Pengawan Lama) marches out from the Istana
main gates. The new guards (Pengawan Baru) will march in from the
direction of Orchard Road, turning and halting just outside the
main gates. What follows is a series of precise drills performed by
both the old and new guards. The new sentries will be posted, and
the outgoing sentries are retired in a drill that will intrigue
most observers. The sentry IC will retrieve the duty clipboard from
the guardhouse, and brief the sentry reliefs. Based on what can be
heard, the sentry IC will say: "Each tour of duty is two hours.
During the tour of duty, you are not allowed to eat, sleep, or
drink. Do you understand." To which the sentries will reply "Yes
sir".
After the new sentries are posted, a drill titled "officers of the
day" will be done. The commanders of the two guard contingents will
march across the fronts of their contingents, about turn, and
continue marching in front of the contingent, repeating the process
until the music stops. The reason and background of this drill is
unclear.
After the traditional Changing has been done, the Silent Precision
Drill Squad will march out to wow the observers present with their
excellent turn-out and perfect silent drills. After which, the old
guards will march out in the direction of Plaza Singapura, and the
new guards will march into the Istana. This concludes the entire
ceremony. The ceremony takes about 20 minutes. Both the SAF Parade
Bands will be in attendance, each marching in, and out, with the
guards. One of the prominent audio features to regular watchers
will be the SAF salute, the only time it is heard in public. The
other features being the popular songs and tunes played by the SAF
Band for the Silent Precision drills performance.
Music
The Changing of the Guards ceremony is one whereby a lot of music
is played. The Bands will march down Orchard Road to four pieces of
music. They are:
Bandstand - Tonni Wei
For The People, For The Nation - Johnson Lee
March Festival - Unknown
SIR March - Unknown
SIR (Singapore Infantry Regiment) March is played by the Parade
Band A because this band formerly was the SIR Band. This piece of
music keeps the traditions of the band.
As mentioned earlier, the SAF Salute (Salute No.7) is also
performed. During the Officers Of The Day drill, the tune "Officers
Centre: Officer Of The Day" is played.
History
The Singapore Istana Changing of the Guards ceremony is based on
the British ceremony, with a few notable differences. Firstly,
there are no horse-mounted guards, and secondly, the Colours of the
regiment is not on parade.
Based on images from the National Archives, when the ceremonial
guard duties were still undertaken by 1 Singapore Infantry
Regiment, the Colours of the regiment was paraded, however, the
image dates back to 1967. 1SIR undertook its duties in 1959. From
that time to 1968, there was no changing of the guards ceremony.
The changing takes place within the Istana grounds, although images
from the Archives suggest that the new guards and the band did
march down Orchard Road.
1SIR handed over its ceremonial duties to the SAF Guards Unit when
the SAFGU was formed in 1968. It is not known if the Colours of
SAFGU was paraded. It was in 1969 that the decision to have a
Changing of Guards ceremony was made, and it has continued ever
since. When the SAFGU was disbanded and regrouped as 1 Guards, 1Gds
continued its duties at the Istana, under the old SAFGU Colours.
1Gds handed the ceremonial duties over to the SAF Provost Unit in
1980.
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