Transcript of doorstop interview by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Deepavali Istana Open House

I’m very happy to be at my first Istana Open House. We’re celebrating Deepavali today, and we will continue with this tradition of opening the Istana each time we have a public holiday, and especially to celebrate our festivities.

And as usual, it's a multiracial celebration in many ways. In fact the rangoli or kolam exhibit behind me was done by our multiracial Istana staff yesterday. We have several performances during the day by multiracial groups.

In a short while, we will have Tan Qing Lun and Ghanavenothan Retnam, two of Singapore's outstanding flautists, performing together. In fact, Qing Lun was taught by Dr Ghanavenothan Retnam a little more than 10 years ago to play the Indian flute. He was already a master of the dizi, the Chinese flute, and he was taught how to play the venu, the Indian flute. There are some similarities between the two, but the music is different. And Qing Lun has mastered the Indian flute, and even won a prize at the National Arts Council’s National Indian Music competition.

It's an example of how we can take part in others’ cultures - respectfully learn the intricacies of each others’ cultures, and enrich our own identity as Singaporeans.

Even the performances by the Indian groups were varied. Not everyone is aware of the very distinct cultures within the Indian community. The SIFAS troupe which we just listened to in fact  performed in Tamil, Malayaman and Hindi, and if they had more time had intended to perform in Urdu as well.

That's the way we do things in Singapore - coming together for each of our festivities, and seeking to understand the meaning of each festivity. And that's the way we really become, not just by saying the Pledge and singing the anthem, but become more and more Singaporean in our identities.

I'd like to wish everyone a happy Deepavali, especially the Indian community, the Hindus as well as the others in the Indian community who celebrate the day in different  forms. And to all Singaporeans, enjoy your long weekend.