SINGAPORE: The cafe is bustling as young kids point their cursor and click, destroying one zombie after another in the latest online video game. Ask the group of five youths here in Singapore who they are battling against and the answer is increasingly “China.” “We play against groups of kids from all over China on a regular basis. They are really good and we like to get in touch with them,” said Yuin Xi, a 20-year-old National University of Singapore student. He told Bikyamasr.com that “the Chinese are a lot like us, just they don't have the opportunities we do, but they do have Internet and so we can play with our friends.” Virtually, that is. But despite the growing cultural crossings that have seen Singapore youth and their counterparts in China become “friends” online, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned that as China's economic power grows, the region, and Singapore in particular, should be weary and aware of the cultural impact it could have on the people. He said at the closing lunch dialogue of the FutureChina Global Forum, held at Shangri-La Hotel, that the recent influx of immigrants – of whom 175,000 are from China, Hong Kong and Macau – has caused “uneasiness among locals.” “Singaporeans suddenly don't feel the same … Their neighbours don't quite talk the same way, they don't have the same Singaporean reaction,” he noted. He argued that although this is to be understood, despite the fact that many of Singapore's Chinese population originally came from China and Hong Kong and share a cultural heritage, he warned that the diverging cultures and attitudes could greatly affect Singapore if not made known to the population. Lee argued that new immigrants from China need to adapt to Singapore, just as “Singaporean Chinese have done over a few generations,” mirroring his call to new citizens in Ang Mo Kio GRC to integrate last Saturday. “We have to ensure that there is effort on both sides to make this a working, well-adapted relationship,” he said. That integration, these youth believe, can be through gaming and other new media opportunities. They said they already have a connection and link with China, so it would “only make sense that we meet up here in Singapore with the new people to help them become Singaporean and great,” the youth all agreed. With China's rise, the PM added, comes a responsibility to maintain the cultural uniqueness that has made Singapore a successful and developed nation.
