Some young people have told me that they are bored. Some people feel that Singapore is a boring place. We need to correct this, and do so urgently, because boredom is very corrosive to the human spirit.

I am very glad that a few pioneers decided to do something about this by starting the Singapore Street Festival last year. It was a great success. Now in its second year, it promises to be bigger and more exciting. It is now designated as a Special Event in the Arts Festival. This will lift its profile further and hopefully draw even more participants.

This will be a showcase for our young people’s creative energy. It will be a challenge to them to show what they can do. I hope the Street Festival will entice them to come and take part, either as performers or spectators. In doing so, they will help to inject life into Orchard Road, and indeed into Singapore’s street life in general.

The life of a city depends on its people. What is so exciting about London and New York if not for the people in the streets, the performances and restaurants, the shops and street culture? All these elements will be here during the Street Festival. All we need is more people to join in the fun.

I am glad to note that besides main-stream art, you have included components of street culture such as graffiti art and break-dancing. The key message is that we want to encourage diversity, and that it is cool to be different. I am not asking everyone to break dance, but we must learn to live, and let live, and have fun together.

I congratulate the organisers for putting the festival together. Orchard Road is already one of the liveliest parts of Singapore. This is the heart of the city and like our own hearts, it pumps life into the rest of the nation. What happens here sets the tone and pace for other centres of activities.

Tourists who visit the festival will see the way Singaporeans party and go away knowing us a little better, beyond our hard work and drive to succeed. Those who already come for the main Arts Festival will have a chance to see the other side of our cultural face. They will realise that Singapore is actually quite a "cool" place after all.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to be a part of it today.