Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 228: Indonesia in chaos, taking over Borneo oil fields
A week later, Penang Bank and Bank of Singapore raised funds and established a total of US$321 million, £78.2 million, and a little more than 18 tons of gold. The SAARC version of the Federal Reserve, the Southern African Reserve, officially entered the preparation stage.

It's a little less, after all, the war had just ended, and no one had much cash on hand, so no one dared to take it out and put it in the bottom of the box. This was something that everyone had to sell everything they had to get together.

Zheng Yi was also afraid of getting into trouble, so he was extremely cautious in the currency reforms. The newly issued new South African currency with non-rigid redemption was actually not used within the SAARC at all, and was treated like an offshore currency.

The first one was a loan to the Javanese people to buy arms. Currently, the second-hand arms business in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is still regulated and is run by Ke Quanshou of the Fuqing Chamber of Commerce and Zhuang Xiyan, one of the vice presidents of the Fujian Chamber of Commerce.

At least for now, no arms smuggling has been found.

Because the loan was secured by British assets packaged by HSBC in Hong Kong, the higher the valuation of the assets, the more arms the Indonesian Free Army could obtain, and vice versa.

It was deliberately placed in HSBC Bank to torture the British, and it was distributed in batches.

Was Singapore previously positioned as a military port by the British? Many of its ports, warehouses, and properties belonged to the country, the military, various aristocrats, and the royal family.

It all depends on how much they estimate it to be.

If the price is too high, Zheng Yi will accept the loss and consider it as paying a little more money to support the Indonesian people's national independence.

At the beginning, the British were quite arrogant, thinking that even if the Indonesian natives received a little military aid, what would it matter? In modern society, just a few weapons are not enough.

As a result, in the Battle of Surabaya alone, the Javanese fought them for seven days and seven nights, causing heavy casualties to them.

This is what the so-called national awakening means. The biggest setback for the British in World War II was not the loss of military equipment and military population, but the shattering of the British image of invincibility.

The British army's incompetent performance when facing the Japanese was seen by the people in the colonies.

You British are all such cowards and useless people. When the Japanese came, you turned around and ran away. What gives you the right to come back and rule me now?
With the courage to resist, these natives will naturally find after trying to resist that although they cannot win, they still have a way to fight.

God is no longer God after bloodshed, and objectively speaking, the century-long colonial rule of the colonists did bring a certain degree of civilization to the local people. The natives also knew what organization was, and a small number of intellectuals and elites were able to play the role of leaders.

After the Anglo-Dutch coalition forces finally won the Battle of Surabaya and successfully occupied most of the major cities in Indonesia, they found that the battle was still far from over.

Except for the vast rural areas outside the cities, pro-Dutch and anti-Dutch factions were still fighting each other, and there was bloodshed everywhere in the vast Dutch East Indies.

The natives, who they could easily suppress by supporting their lackeys and compradors, have now been completely transformed and have gained the upper hand in almost all rural battlefields. A large number of compradors have been executed extremely cruelly.

Without the assistance of these comprador classes, the British and the Dutch seemed to have become tigers without claws.

Although they still had the absolute strength to suppress the rebels, their military strength was completely insufficient and they were often caught off guard. With the support of Zheng Yi, the Free Army fought guerrilla warfare more and more vigorously, smashing, looting, burning and causing destruction everywhere, which annoyed the British and Dutch forces.

The most crucial thing is the resources. Although Britain and the Netherlands have regained those oil fields and mines, they have never been able to develop them steadily. Every now and then, someone will come to destroy them.

Moreover, the Indonesians' path to independence is completely different from India's.

The Indians practiced non-violent non-cooperation because the enemy was too powerful. I did not cooperate with the British and tried my best to avoid violent conflicts with the British.

The Indonesians, after realizing that the enemy was too powerful, specifically killed the Indian traitors!

The butcher knife was pointed at the British comprador class.

As a result, the Indonesian battlefield presented a strange scene of constant hatred between nationalist Indonesians and the colonial lackeys.

Does this increase the cost of being an Indian traitor?

In this time and space, the situation of Chinese people is much better than in history.

Although there were still many Chinese who served as compradors to the colonists, Zheng Yi did not have much contact with Indonesian Chinese until the war began.

However, despite this, the establishment of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation still brought about earth-shaking changes to the local Chinese. Many of the elites who originally served as compradors for the Dutch began to serve as compradors for Zheng Yi.

Naturally, these people had to listen to Zheng Yi, and Zheng Yi's loan to Su JiaX to buy arms clearly showed that he was standing on the position of anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. Naturally, these people would not, and there was no need to, continue to risk their lives to become compradors.

After the Freedom Army led by Su received the loan from Zheng Yi, no matter how much the loan was, it was impossible for them to bite the Nanyang Chinese.

At least the core senior management headed by Su has expressed their gratitude to the Nanyang Chinese on many occasions in public.

They are not stupid. After all, the British are thousands of miles away and can mobilize limited troops. Zheng Yi's Southern Alliance is their close neighbor. If they don't try to curry favor with them, would they deliberately offend them?

Moreover, Zheng Yi did not just give a small loan. Zhuang Xiyan and Ke Quanshou often returned to Indonesia in person. In addition to buying and selling arms, they also often provided humanitarian assistance to the indigenous people.

Hospitals and other welfare facilities were opened to specifically help the wounded indigenous people. There were even many journalists among the Chinese who went to take pictures wherever there was excitement. They often took photos and videos of the colonists' brutal suppression of the rebels and the difficult lives of the indigenous people under colonial exploitation.

These photos actually put a lot of pressure on Britain and the Netherlands internationally, especially Britain.

After all, this was the Dutch's business. He was just a helper, and it was not worth it to cause such a big mess. But at the same time, they really did not dare to vent their anger on the Chinese in Southeast Asia, because they also knew that Zheng Yi had not really taken any action so far, and these natives were already in trouble.

Killing Chinese people really does them absolutely no good.

After suffering such a heavy blow, he finally stopped being so arrogant and began to deliberately lower the price of his Singaporean assets, and even simply sold them at low prices to Zheng Yi and other Chinese tycoons. The final transaction price was even less than 30% of the original price.

As for Zheng Yi, he was already very satisfied with the price. He couldn't really give nothing at all, as he still had to continue to get along with the British. Moreover, if the price was any lower, it would be suspected of being communist, which was definitely not acceptable. After all, the SAARC was engaged in foreign trade and had to abide by the rules-based international order.

Not only that, Henry has already taken the initiative to find him. Thanks to the support of the Javanese people, Henry proposed to temporarily sell all Shell oil fields in Brunei and the entire Borneo, plus 30% of the equity to Zheng Yi for a price of million US dollars.

At the same time, they will give another 30% of the equity to the local indigenous people of Borneo to ensure the stability of the oil fields and establish a dedicated foundation. The entire Borneo, including Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei to the north and Singkawang in the south, have also officially joined the SAARC.

Are both cities populated by Chinese?

It is obvious that Shell is a little scared now, and they are also having financial problems now, so they are trying to sell for 100 million US dollars to recover their losses.

One hundred million US dollars was a huge sum of money for Zheng Yi, and they did not accept the South Asian currency whose credit had not yet been established. Zheng Yi did not want to use the bank's reserves, so he gritted his teeth and gathered money from the Nanyang Chinese circle, and even used a large amount of Jewish deposits in the Overseas Chinese Bank.

Since no one came to collect the money, Zheng Yi temporarily assumed that they were all dead.

The Borneo region, also known as Kalimantan Island, is a major oil producer in the world. The island's oil and gas resources rank among the top 20 in the world and have always been one of Shell's most important foundations, including the Miri Oilfield, Seria Oilfield, and Hortong Oilfield.

This price can really be said to be a bargain, even more than a discounted price.

After all, the main population of Borneo is Malay, and there are also many Chinese. The only overseas Chinese country in history, the Lan Fang Kingdom, is located here. It is also close to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. Compared with Java and Sumatra, the fighting is not as fierce.

After Zheng Yi came forward, and Shell did indeed cut its losses and make concessions, several local military leaders, chieftains, and sultans thought that if they did not agree, the Southern Alliance would probably roll up its sleeves and personally join the British and Dutch in a combined attack on them.

It's better to take the money and run. As the saying goes, the first bird to stick its head out gets shot. So let the Javanese and Sumatran people fight the Anglo-Dutch forces first, and I agreed.

As for the oil fields on Sumatra and Java, Henry would like to sell them if possible, but the fighting over there is too intense now. Even if Zheng Yi comes forward now, it may be difficult to mediate.

There are fewer Chinese people there, and the Sumatran and Javanese do not give Zheng Yi as much face as the Malays do, and the oil workers are not entirely Chinese.

Then we can only let them fight first.

In fact, at this time and space, although the ethnic conflicts between the Chinese, Javanese and Sumatran people are much smaller than in history, they are not completely absent.

Moreover, extreme nationalism and extreme religiousism have merged, and the indigenous people's freedom army is divided into countless factions. Many factions are extremely dissatisfied with Zheng Yi and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). They believe that Zheng Yi has no good intentions at all and that he lends them money in order to rob their oil. SAARC is also imperialist.

Many people are extremely resentful of the SAARC's acquisition of 30% of Borneo's oil shares. They believe that since these oil fields are buried on the land where they have lived for generations, they are gifts from God and should be nationalized after the country's independence.

It is a shame that the Malays in Kalimantan only got 30%.

Although the so-called high-ranking officials of the Free Army, such as Su and Ha, have not made any statement, many local warlords have begun to refuse to recognize the transaction between Zheng Yi and Shell Oil.

This is actually quite normal. The natives generally lack knowledge and have no idea what the world is like. They only see oil and fail to see that it needs to be mined, refined, and most importantly, how an island country can sell its oil if it is kicked out of the international order.

Even Zheng Yi only dared to spend money to buy them when others were in trouble. He really spent real money to buy these oil fields. Although the discount was huge, Zheng Yi actually took a huge risk.

For example, these oil fields may be taken back by the future Indonesian government at any time, so his more than 100 million US dollars

This one
These are troubled times. Does the ability to keep the things you buy depend on the law?
Even in peacetime, owning oil doesn't rely on legal documents. Zheng Yi even found the Ghawar oil field, but he still didn't dare to own it. Do you really think that just signing a legal document will make it yours?
Zheng Yi waited until the victory of World War II and had already gained a certain amount of strength and power before he dared to set his sights on the oil fields.

However, it is obvious that now is not the time to deal with ethnic conflicts with the indigenous people. The anti-imperialist and anti-colonial war is still going on.

And there is no need to think about it. If he wants to take over the oil field, there will probably be a lot of troubles later. This kind of thing is not that simple.

As Indonesia, at least Borneo, maintained a certain degree of stability, Zheng Yi also turned his attention away from here and focused on another major battlefield for the international promotion of the SAARC currency: India.

After more than three months of delay, Zheng Yi finally decided to go there in person and have a good talk with Gan and Ni.

At present, India is still a British colony. In fact, both Gan and Nepal are traitors, so this visit itself is a secret visit. In name, he is actually going to formally visit the Governor-General of India, Marshal Munro.

Of course, although it was a secret visit, the British definitely knew what he was going to do. It was easy to guess. Otherwise, Zheng Yi must be crazy. Was he going to India for tourism? What normal person would go to India for tourism?
I just don't know Zheng Yi's specific schedule, and when and where he will meet those two.

The British are now afraid to act rashly. They dare not arrest Gan and Ni in a high-profile manner, nor can they restrict Zheng Yi. They have no choice but to pretend they don't know.

As for the international community, if we personify international diplomacy, which decent country doesn't have a little green on its head? It's fine if they pretend not to know. People with moral purist can't even watch diplomacy, let alone engage in it.

(End of this chapter)