Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 232: Sending Troops to Kuala Lumpur
After all, in Borneo, the incidents all happened in rural areas. Although the nature of the incidents was serious, they could actually be classified as ordinary criminal cases.

However, in Alor Setar, this is a purely planned racial war.

For three consecutive days, Anand slept no more than five hours a day, and the first thing he did after waking up every day was: catch someone!
Even a blind man could see that someone was deliberately instigating this matter from behind. For three whole days, the whole of Alor Setar was in a panic. Anand's actions were so drastic that the entire city almost came to a complete standstill.

In three days, Anand arrested more than 80,000 people!

Because there were too many people arrested, there was no place to detain them. In fact, there was no proper prison in Alor Setar. The legal work of the SAARC has always been not very good, and it has not reached the point where the law needs to be preached. Alor Setar is naturally even worse, and most of the time, they even implement the religious law.

With no place to detain people, schools, factories, and even temples have all become places to detain so-called "suspects." When they are arrested, any resistance they show will be met with beatings and kicks.

Of course, among so many people, the vast majority are innocent. In fact, most of the Malays in Alor Setar are pro-China. After all, they all know that Alor Setar depends on Penang for its livelihood.

Moreover, during the Anti-Japanese War, Zheng Yi basically treated everyone equally and did not treat them unfairly. Of course, the most important thing is that these Malays working in Alor Setar lived a very good life.

The whole city is under construction, and small factories and construction sites are hiring people. Although it is mainly based on the service industry, not every woman is selling herself. Even if she works as a waitress, she can actually make a lot of money. Her life is at least better than before, and better than that of other Malays outside Yalu Setar.

Of course, class contradictions will always exist. The ethnic contradictions in Alor Setar are purely class contradictions. Except for people like Anand, who can eat public food and have their family members arranged to work, no one can do that.

Apart from these people, most Malays in Alor Setar are engaged in the service industry, mainly making money from Penangites who come for leisure and entertainment. Since they are consumers, they must be the bosses, and there will definitely be some arrogant attitudes.

And objectively speaking, this place is a bit like the Australian Island in later generations. Even as waiters, women earn more than men. In many families, women work in the service industry to support men.

Although most of them are just service workers and don't take off their clothes, it would definitely be uncomfortable for the men in the family. And the most important thing is that the Malays have faith.

For a woman to go out and serve a man and earn money to support him in his old age is not so unacceptable in Buddhist countries such as Siam and Myanmar, but some Malays do think it is a humiliation.

This small group of people is naturally somewhat extreme.

Many people believe that it is the Chinese who have corrupted the customs of the Malays, causing women, who should have been like furniture, to become not obedient at all. There are even many wives who have been married for many years who secretly leave their husbands with their children.

There are also some old Malays who have little ability, cannot speak Chinese or English, and cannot endure hardship. For some reason, they refused to go home to farm after the Japanese left. Naturally, they do not have a good life in the city.

These people watched helplessly as Malay women became more and more beautiful, and most of them no longer wore headscarves, but they didn't care about it anymore. They only talked and laughed with the rich Chinese, and followed the Chinese like scoundrels after taking out a few banknotes.

Are you jealous?

In fact, such people exist in every society, even in modern society, even in China, and there are quite a lot of them. It’s just that in places like China, at most they complain about the so-called decline of morals and the change of people’s hearts.

But people in Malaysia have scriptures. If we take out the scriptures, we will see that you women are traitors who betray the scriptures.

Those wealthy Chinese are naturally enemies at the religious level.

Although there are not many of these people, their destructive power is not small. The reason why this incident has become so serious is mainly because these people are taking advantage of the situation.

So Anand arrested all those who had no proper jobs, were not satisfied with their jobs, and promoted fundamentalism.

As for those who could be confirmed to be involved in the riots, they were directly ordered to be punished.

It's just that these people are all dissatisfied with the Chinese, and when they see an opportunity, they take the opportunity to vent their anger and make trouble. At least so far, no one knows who the initiators of the trouble are, and the mastermind behind the scenes cannot be found.

Although everyone generally knows that the so-called mastermind behind the scenes is most likely the British.

"General Anand, I understand your eagerness to show off and clear yourself of responsibility to Mr. Zheng, but aren't you going a bit too far? You are Malay after all. Do you know what people are saying about you?"

In the office, Anand was about to give his men instructions when he heard the mayor of Alor Setar, Dato' Onn, walking towards him yelling. It was obvious that he was very excited.

"Mayor Dato' Onn, please sit down. Would you like coffee or tea? I'd rather have tea. I see you're in a bad mood. Drinking coffee might just make your temper worse."

Anand remained calm.

He and his soldiers were all from the Southern Alliance, and were not actually under the jurisdiction of the mayor, Dato Ong. When this guy came to him angrily, he naturally did not respect him much. He was too lazy to lift his butt from the chair and asked his secretary to make tea for him.

Then he said disdainfully, "Mayor, you came to me this early in the morning to call me to task? As the mayor, you should be held responsible for this terrible incident in Alor Setar. How dare you stop me from investigating this case?"

"Of course I am Malay, but there is a Chinese saying that goes, 'One should be loyal to the emperor if he pays him.' My brothers and I are all paid by Mr. Zheng, so naturally we should work for him. As for what others say, I don't care at all."

Dato' Onn: "But Mr. Zheng never told you to do this. Look at how many people you've arrested. This has affected the operation of Alor Setar. Isn't that also damaging to the Southern Alliance and Mr. Zheng's interests?"

"Besides, Mr. Zheng is now in Japan. Before leaving, he made a public speech in the hope that we would not fall into the trap of the British and that the Chinese and Malays could live in harmony."

"You are making indiscriminate arrests, but you haven't caught the real culprit and the mastermind behind this. Isn't this only deepening the rift between us Malays and Chinese, making it increasingly difficult to reconcile? Isn't this contrary to what Mr. Zheng hoped for?"

"General Anand, you and I are both Malays working for Mr. Zheng and SAARC. The more friendly the relationship between MCA and Malaysia is, the easier it will be for you and me to do our work.
I know you want to show your loyalty, but have you ever thought about the fact that you are Malay after all? If you do this, even in the eyes of the Chinese, won't you become a lackey? Is this image really good for you?

"Even if you want to search the entire city and arrest as many people as possible, even if you wait for Mr. Zheng to come back?"

Anand laughed disdainfully when he heard this, took out a cigar from the drawer, lit it slowly, and said:
"Even a crude person like me can see it clearly. Could it be that you, a civil servant, really don't understand what Mr. Zheng means? If he really wanted to bridge the differences, would he go to Japan now, after such a big incident?"

"It's been almost six months since Japan's defeat and surrender. Why go now, if not earlier? To put it bluntly, he's deliberately hiding. So what do you think Mr. Zheng is hiding from? If he really doesn't want revenge, why is he hiding? Is he afraid of us Malays?"

"Hehe, we Malays, with little education, aren't as sensible as the Chinese. Sometimes, blindly appeasing others won't work. People may give in to you for the sake of harmony, but I'm afraid some stupid people might mistakenly think they're afraid."

"Now a Chinese person has been beaten to death for no reason, and the real culprit cannot be found. If we don't retaliate harshly, who knows if there will be a next time, and the next time?"

"To put it bluntly, Mr. Zheng is supposed to be the good guy in this matter, but who will be the bad guy? If we don't do it, will the Chinese do it? If that happens, the hatred between these ethnic groups will never end.

Mr. Zheng only went to Japan, not the United States. Telegraphs can be exchanged between Japan and Alor Setar, so he's naturally fully aware of what's happening here. It's not that I have to wait for Mr. Zheng to return before I can take drastic action, but only if I take drastic action will Mr. Zheng come back and be a good person. "If I can figure this out, I don't believe you can't. What, you want to be a good person too? Mayor, do you really think you're the leader of the Malays? Do you think you're worthy of being a good person?"

"Hehe, I'm different. People outside scold me, but I know it's a good thing. They're transferring the hatred onto me. This is a conflict between those fundamentalist mad dogs and me, a conflict among us Malays."

"Isn't this what Mr. Zheng really meant? Isn't this truly good for the Malays?"

Anand then said with a look of sarcasm: "I am a soldier, not a politician. I only know how to do what is best for us Malays, not just to show off for votes."

After saying this, Dato' Ong's face turned red. It was obvious that these words touched his sore spot, making him feel a little angry and embarrassed.

It turned out that after Zheng Yi let the Malays manage themselves and he did not participate, more and more Malays began to think about establishing a modern political party.

Although the power of the British Colonial Office returned after World War II, it was no longer as strong as before. Naturally, the Malays were no longer as easy to manage as before, especially in Alor Setar, where even a fart wouldn't make a sound.

So the Malays came up with the idea of ​​letting the Malays govern themselves and promised to give them independence when the time was right.

This is sincere. After all, Zheng Yi is in Malaya, and the staff of the Colonial Office are also frustrated. The British Empire can no longer gain any benefits in this place.

Since it was a modern political party, the British would naturally support Datuk Onn's opponents, even if it was just for the sake of checks and balances.

That is East.

With Alor Setar's economic advantage being so obvious, it is almost impossible for anyone to defeat Datuk Onn, who has the support of Alor Setar, through legitimate means, such as competing in terms of economy and supporters.

So naturally, we can only play the national card.

Tung’s political program was very simple, which was to pick up the “Malaya for the Malayans” from the Japanese colonial period.

They believe that Malays should enjoy privileges and be the masters of the Malay Peninsula, and that only when Malays enjoy privileges will it be fair to the Chinese who hold the vast majority of the wealth.

This East, with Kuala Lumpur as its center, has become quite powerful and threatening.

The ethnic division card is a powerful weapon in a democratic society.

In fact, as long as a political entity bids farewell to rapid growth, there will definitely be politicians who provoke confrontation during elections. After all, the essence of elections is the tyranny of 51% of the people against 49%. As a politician, it is too easy to cut voters vertically.

And nation is a card that doesn't even need to be cut.

It is always simpler and easier to create a common enemy than to lead the people to create wealth.

Naturally, political opponents also attacked Datuk Onn, saying that he was just a dog kept by the Chinese and that he was a loss of the national dignity of the Malays.

If Datuk Onn wants to realize his personal political ambitions, he has to go through elections. Since Mr. Zheng does not play along with them and it is an internal Malay election, he will of course try his best to deny this stigmatizing behavior.

At the very least, he has to pretend that he wants to do good for the Malay people.

To be honest, he must be the person who suffers the most in this MCA conflict. The political impact on him is devastating, because his stance must and can only be to be friendly to China, and then to eat the leftovers of the Chinese in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Alor Setar is such a city, just like Alaska in the United States is always a red state and Hawaii is always a blue state. Politicians who betray the position of their base are committing political suicide.

And Anand is making such a big fuss at this time, arresting people to such an extent, isn't this ruining him?

Malays outside would just think he and Anand were together.

Anand is right to some extent.

He really just wants to be a good person.

He also wants to maintain his political image.

This is also what Anand laughed at, overestimating one's own abilities.

Are you pretending to be a good guy and putting Mr. Zheng in there to make him the bad guy? If Mr. Zheng really doesn't even pretend anymore and turns against us and really becomes the bad guy, that would be the end of us Malays.

No wonder Mr. Zheng always says that only stupid countries would implement universal suffrage before fully realizing urbanization and industrialization. He is absolutely right.

"Hey~"

Dato Ong sighed deeply, but continued to persuade him, "That's certainly true. But you also know that during this period, those people from Donggu have been organizing themselves everywhere, frantically preaching and selling their ideas in Kuala Lumpur. More and more people are fleeing from Alor Setar to Kuala Lumpur."

"I'm not saying I want to be a good person, but by doing this, you are clearly giving them an assist! They, UMNO, are taking advantage of this opportunity to expand rapidly.
We don't know when Mr. Zheng will come back. What if by the time he comes back, UMNO has become bigger than us? What will we do then?

"I know you look down on the idea of ​​universal suffrage, but Mr. Zheng doesn't interfere in specific matters. It seems that universal suffrage was decided by the British, and it is difficult to change.
"Have you ever thought about this: What if, I mean, I really didn't elect that Dong G, and he became the leader after the country's independence, then how could he and Mr. Zheng... get along harmoniously? If Mr. Zheng came back to be a good person at that time, wouldn't it be too late?"

"I'm also working for the peace between the two tribes. Whatever we do, it will be easier for Dong G to take the throne."

Anand's sneer deepened as he heard this. "So that's how it is. I understand what you mean. This is easy. I'll call up my troops and march directly to Kuala Lumpur. We'll fight them, arrest Dong G, and throw him in jail."

Dato' Onn: "What? This is not okay. This is absolutely not okay. People will say you can't compete in a fair election and are acting like a hooligan."

Anand, however, laughed heartily. "I'm just an uneducated, rough fellow. What's wrong with being a hooligan? Haha. But if you want to compete with him fairly, that's easy to do. Come on, lock up Mayor Dato' Onn as well!"

"Notify all school-level officers in the division to come to the battle city for a meeting. Within three days, attack Kuala Lumpur and arrest all the opposition. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

(End of this chapter)