Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 223: Anti-Imperialism and Anti-Colonialism in Southeast Asia
For most small countries, World War II was essentially an imperialist dog-eat-dog war.

The defeat of Germany and Japan was only the end of the imperialist war, but the beginning of their anti-imperialist and anti-feudal war. The world in the future will still be turbulent.

In Malaya, some local sultans and Malay leaders headed by Datuk Onn were thinking about establishing a country and having more political power, while the British had already re-established the Colonial Office in Kuala Lumpur.

This time in Malaya, there were no Chinese to get involved with them, and it was unknown what the outcome of the independence negotiations would have been without Ma X's armed struggle.

But in short, Malaya is probably the most peaceful of all British colonies, and the Malays, at least for now, have no intention of seeking armed independence.

In Burma, the Japanese-backed government occupied Mandera after the Japanese surrender, and it seemed that they had no intention of letting the British return.

Zheng Yi has no interest in any other place in Myanmar except Yangon. The ethnic conflicts there are too complicated. At most, he will invest in Shan State and other places, and he will stay as far away from administrative management as possible.

Of course, Angshan did not ask for independence. This guy still has some political wisdom. He knows that the first bird to stick its head out gets shot. In addition to looking for Hu Wenhu several times and constantly requesting to meet Mr. Zheng, he even ran to India intensively.

This guy is so mean and has always said that Myanmar should be a part of India and should be independent together.

As for India, a huge mine is brewing inside, which may blow the British into pieces at any time.

During the Anti-Japanese War, the British promised the Indians that they would grant them national independence if they defeated the Japanese. Now that the Japanese have retreated, they are reluctant to give up and are starting to cheat.

Who knows when something big will happen here? Zheng Yi doesn’t know either, because the history of Nanyang has long been completely changed.

In the Middle East, after the baptism of World War II, the country has become a complete mess. Every country and every person has been involved, and a big crisis is about to sweep across the country.

As for Africa... let's leave it aside for now.

The wave of colonial independence has become unstoppable. Because these colonial contradictions and class contradictions are mixed together, coupled with the existence of the Soviet Union, most colonies have become somewhat red when they are resisting colonialism.

That is to say, not only should the colonists be driven out, but their businesses should also be confiscated.

As for the colonies, in the eyes of ordinary people at the bottom of society, even the rich and upper-class people of their own ethnic group are almost without exception running dogs of imperialism, and their money should be confiscated.

It is not easy to give it to a private individual after confiscation, so nationalization is often an unavoidable choice.

Confiscate private property and nationalize it.

This seems to many people...

Then it will be natural to "be selected" into a camp.

Objectively speaking, the Soviet Union has never really had the strength to compete with the United States, and they are not on the same level in all aspects.

It is simply because most of the colonies and semi-colonies in various places had to be "selected" in this way in the process of fighting for national independence, and thus inexplicably became his minions.

Because he has many younger brothers, he appears to be so powerful and capable of competing with the Western powers.

However, in reality, most people in these countries have never been baptized by red ideology, and most of them do not understand what class is. On the surface, they are modern as a whole, but in fact, their minds are still stuck in feudal society or even slave society.

What awaits them is just being trapped both internally and externally.

So in reality, all colonies faced a difficult decision when they gained independence: "Should we nationalize imperialist enterprises?"

In fact, there is another question here: If foreign companies, especially resource-based companies, cannot be nationalized and are still controlled by imperialist powers, can this be considered true independence?

Indonesia's national independence movement is one of the earliest in the world. It started long before Japan surrendered. The whole world is paying close attention to it. It is no exaggeration to say that this battle will really determine the direction of the world.

Even Zheng Yi's Southern Alliance actually has to face this problem.

"Mr. Zheng, there are currently over 2,000 sports fields of all sizes in Singapore, as well as parks, schools, hospitals, power plants, and waterworks. Almost all of them are British-owned enterprises. Of course, the most important ones are the ports and terminals. Today, people from the UK have arrived to take over the management and operation of the ports."

In Tianfu Temple, the original words "Fujian Association" have been removed and replaced with the words "Chinese General Chamber of Commerce". Currently, Zheng Yi and a group of Chinese tycoons are using this place as their temporary administrative conference center.

Zheng Yi couldn't help but rub his temples and said, "After all, this was the center of the Far East where the British ruled for hundreds of years. The things that truly control the lifeline of this city must be in their hands. The key now is whether or not we should recognize it, and how we should do so."

Li Xiaowei, who had come with Zheng Yi, said disdainfully, "Brother-in-law, you're a little too cautious and soft. Even the natives of Indonesia can seize the Dutch's property. Why should we return these things to the British?"

"Weren't these industries already taken away by the Japanese? That has nothing to do with the British. The Japanese are now surrendering to our SAARC. We took these things back from the Japanese. Why should we return them to the British? If the British want them, they can buy them with money." Zheng Yi glared at him helplessly and said, "The Javanese can rely on their oil resources to close their country to the outside world, can we? Did we drive the Japanese away independently? If you say so, these companies should all belong to the United States. Even our SAARC, didn't it resist the Japanese attack with the support of the Americans?

If we really confiscate them arbitrarily, what will the British who cooperate with us think? There are still many British-owned companies in Penang. Shell Oil, Persian Oil, Gulf Oil, Royal Machinery, Shaxing Transport, and British Electric all have factories in Penang. Should we confiscate them all?
What about Japan's Nippon Precision and Toyota Boshoku? The Japanese are now a defeated nation, and we don't need those Japanese expatriates to wage a propaganda war. Should we also seize these Japanese companies? What, you want to join the Red Army?"

Because it was an internal meeting held by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, not a SAARC meeting, and all the participants were Chinese, they could naturally speak more directly, and only considered the interests of the Chinese.

The current situation of SAARC is rather complicated. SAARC is certainly the SAARC of the whole world. The British and Americans are all members of SAARC, and there are even Japanese. They eat from the same pot of SAARC, but each still has its own bowl.

It seems that SAARC controls Singapore almost 100% now, but how are the British and the Chinese divided in Singapore controlled by SAARC?

It is certain that these British assets in Singapore will be packaged into the SAARC, but what proportion will they occupy?
If we really calculate based on the situation before the Japanese invaded, everyone would feel at a disadvantage, and Zheng Yi himself would feel uncomfortable.

That's why we have this meeting today.

Lee Kong Chian said worriedly, "But Singapore is different from Penang. Chinese investment here is too small. If we really let all the British capital come back, even if we can integrate all these assets into the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, I'm afraid Singapore's actual economy and industrial lifeline will still be controlled by the British."

"Besides, Singapore is a distribution center for goods from Southeast Asia. You have already agreed to allow the British navy to station troops here. Indonesia has taken the lead in launching a war of independence, and you are also confiscating British and Dutch assets for nationalization."

"Although other places haven't started yet, they are all gearing up for it. Even the Malays are planning to establish modern political parties. I'm afraid that if the other colonies in Southeast Asia become unstable, the British will securitize a large amount of assets and trade them in Singapore."

"Or maybe they could sell their assets elsewhere and invest in Singapore. Mr. Zheng, do we still have the money to hedge against them now? The SAARC was built by us Chinese, and we set the rules. Once we set them, they can't be disregarded."

"If we recognize British assets in Singapore and at the same time welcome the British to trade in Singapore with securitized assets from other colonies, or even transfer assets from other colonies to Singapore to join the SAARC, but we ourselves cannot provide enough funds."

"Then Singapore does belong to the SAARC, but does it still belong to us Chinese?"

After he finished speaking, all the tycoons who came to the meeting nodded repeatedly.

In Southeast Asia, the people who have been most aggressive in raising nationalism have never been the Javanese.

Zheng Yi also knew that this was probably the general view of the Chinese in the SAARC. To put it bluntly, those who could come here to attend the meeting today were already elites among the Chinese and were all rich. If we really consider public opinion, especially the public opinion at the grassroots level, the Chinese are actually much crazier and more radical than the Javanese.

But the problem is, the people of Penang really want to do business with the Americans, the British, and the whole world!
We must talk about ethnicity, but our geographical location and regional positioning are here, so we must not take the path of nationalism.

He could only say, "Right now, Penang's economy is indeed having some problems. Or perhaps it's not that there are any problems, it's just that they're a little short of money. We just finished such a large-scale war, and all the factories that could have switched to military production have already done so. Now they have to switch to civilian use. How can that be so easy, so quick?"

"Furthermore, most of Penang's businesses are foreign trade, and most of them rely on the European and American markets. Now that the world war has just ended, the world is in ruins, so the market is naturally sluggish. We really don't have much money now."

"SAARC is all about capital. Whoever has more money has the loudest voice. That's for sure. We really can't afford to invest much in Singapore right now, but the British don't either. They're even poorer than us."

"In fact, no one in the world has money now except the Americans. Even the Americans are still struggling with the war economy. I want to remind you that our current game with the British is not just about economics. It's also about the value of their land in Singapore."

"It's also about how we should define the British rule in Southeast Asia over the years. For us, the Chinese in Southeast Asia, are the British still colonizers? Was Britain a colonizer in the past? If so, how should we, the Chinese in Southeast Asia, overthrow and replace these imperialist colonizers?"

"This is a politically defined issue. We will have plenty of opportunities to earn money later."

"But I think we can set a tone today. Penang and Singapore are geographically located, and our Chinese population base is there. Only by being open, inclusive, and international can we have a good life, and even a way to survive."

"Don't mention the confiscation of all British property anymore. Even if one day we Chinese really lose our leadership in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), I will never agree to any despicable means."

"I personally set the rules of the Southern Alliance. I can't just resort to rogue tactics when I can't win. We're a trading port city, a pure conglomerate. To put it bluntly, we Chinese in Southeast Asia don't even have a strong motherland behind us. If we lose our business reputation, what will become of us in the future?"

"But of course, we certainly can't claim all of the British-owned properties. A few factories don't matter, and even the ownership of the port property isn't particularly important. I'm confident that our Chinese-owned enterprises will be much more profitable than theirs in the future."

"But 70% of all developed land in the city has already been occupied by them. If we accept this, we Chinese will probably be forced to be their bonded laborers forever."

"At the moment, it seems that we will definitely have to rely on procrastination for the time being. The British must focus their current attention on the Javanese. The better the Javanese fight, the more confident we will be when negotiating with the British. Otherwise, we will be more passive."

"I have great confidence in the Javanese and Sumatran people, so I think it would be better for us to delay the talks."

"However, simply stalling for time will not work. We need about half a year. Within that time, we must have a practical solution. Simply put, we cannot seize it by force, but we can take it by trickery."

(End of this chapter)