Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 246 Centralization, the establishment of the SAARC Secretariat and Advisory Group
The luxurious private jet slowly landed at Penang International Airport. After six months, Zheng Yi finally returned to the SAARC, which was loyal to him.

He hasn't been back to Penang for a long time. Even before he went to Japan, he stayed in Singapore most of the time.

Zheng Yi has no intention of changing the political center, but at present, because the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation is too makeshift politically, there is actually a point that wherever Zheng Yi is, that is the ruling center of the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation.

This is certainly because his personal prestige is too high and his power is too great.

The reason why we did not fly directly to Singapore this time was to emphasize Penang’s central position in the SAARC.

Although Singapore is a good place, it is not the place where he started his business. Not only does it have remnant British forces, but the Far East Navy is still stationed there. At the same time, its geographical location is too important and its military attributes are too heavy. In addition, most of the Japanese who migrated this time are also in Singapore.

The Chinese population in that place will definitely not be as pure as that in Penang.

On the other hand, power follows him. In other words, doesn’t it mean that in the entire SAARC, no one has any power except him?

But it may also be because local power is too great and central power is too small.

This shows that power in the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation is too dispersed, and the reason why it can be maintained as a whole is mainly due to Zheng Yi's personal prestige.

Moreover, Penang’s economic share is still too large. When other cities develop in the future, their interests may even conflict with each other. If Zheng Yi cannot grasp a key position in it, even he may not be able to maintain the integrity of the Southern Alliance.

Strictly speaking, everyone in the Southern Alliance plays their own game. Guilds and secret societies have too much power, and each city has its own team. It cannot be said that there is no relationship between them, but they are indeed not subordinate to each other.

Zheng Yi's power is entirely based on his prestige. If he doesn't take charge of things, the people under him will do the same.

After all, his political model was completely developed from the British colonial model. During the British colonial period, the entire Chinese society had become accustomed to managing itself.

There has never been a so-called government that would take care of the birth, aging, illness, and death of the Chinese. It all depends on their respective hometown associations. As for maintaining social order, it all depends on secret societies. When conflicts arise between people, fellow villagers will determine right and wrong through their respective associations. If they are from different hometowns, they will use their fists to settle the matter.

It's not a society ruled by law at all.

The entire political logic of the SAARC was established in this way. Before Zheng Yi established the SAARC, he was actually an integral part of this logic.

When he first took over Penang as a tax farmer, this system that allowed the society to operate independently without the need to build any administrative team also provided him with great help, and even made it impossible for the British to intervene.

However, this was fine when it only affected Penang, but it is no longer applicable now.

Of course, SAARC still has its own particularity. It is a non-state actor. It is precisely because of its relatively loose nature that it has been able to develop so rapidly after the war. Even India is willing to let Kolkata join.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you control too much, development will naturally slow down. If you control too little, development will naturally speed up.

However, Zheng Yi really doesn't want to develop too quickly now.

Yoshida approached him and said he wanted to pick a Japanese city to join the Southern Alliance, but he did not agree immediately and became hesitant.

He has been in Japan recently, away from the messy affairs of the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation, and has figured out a lot of things. Especially in the past few days, he has talked with Shimomura Osamu for more than three or four hours almost every day.

He also increasingly felt that Japan's 1940 system had its advantages.

If Japan had not been unable to withstand the economic crisis and launched a war, or if Hirohito had not chosen to use fanatical and radical Nazi ideology to consolidate his rule, with the institutional advantages of Japan and the civilizational advantages of Confucian civilization.

If he is given another thirty or forty years, he will become the world's second largest power even faster, and it is not impossible for him to become the world's number one power.

What are the advantages of the Japanese system?
centralization!

and policy continuity.

Although Japan's prime ministers have changed like a revolving lantern since the war, its economic policies have always been continuous. As for what kind of powers the prime minister has in Japan, there has always been a strong tacit understanding within the Japanese cabinet.

At least in terms of economic policy, there have been few cases of sharp turns due to changes in government.

The complete opposite of Korea.

This was a very important factor in Japan's rapid development after the war.

The Southern Alliance today is no longer the makeshift team it once was. It will sooner or later fail to survive if it still relies on the previous operating model. It all depends on Zheng Yi alone, and he is really too tired.

Therefore, when he was in Japan, Zheng Yi had already made up his mind: to centralize power after returning to Penang.

But not dictatorial.

Centralization and dictatorship are not the same thing.

In fact, he does not have the conditions for dictatorship. Since ancient times, including the experience gained from various modern countries, there must be two basic conditions for a modern country to achieve dictatorship. First, there must be a certain degree of internal strife at the bottom.

The more factions there are and the more internal struggles there are, the more stable the dictator will be. In fact, when there are too many factions, the ruler will have to become a dictator. If the country is a republic, it will definitely be unstable. If it is a democratic election, the country will definitely be doomed.

A typical example is the Middle East.

Whoever cooks will die. Republics don't live well either, and whether they have oil or not is pointless. Only citizens of monarchies can live a relatively happy life. Jordan, despite not having a single drop of oil, is definitely not doing badly in the Middle East. It's far better off than oil-rich Iran and Iraq.

The second is that a dictator must have a powerful family.

To be precise, you must have a lot of children.

It is necessary to fill all key departments with his own family members in order to effectively ensure the inheritance of dictatorship.

Zheng Yi obviously does not possess these two qualities, so he has no intention of becoming a dictator. All he wants is centralization of power.

"Inform the presidents of all the major chambers of commerce and the major shareholders of all SAARC member companies to come to Penang for a meeting. I have something to announce."

"Yes."

Qian Qiwen, who came to pick her up at the airport, was shocked and vaguely felt that something big was going to happen.

He nodded quickly and said, "Okay, I'll notify everyone and try to get everyone here."

"There are several large boxes of cultural relics on the plane. They are all top-notch national treasures. You will have them collected and properly stored. Then you can have historians and archaeologists identify and classify them."

"These are only a portion. A much larger portion, at least one million pieces, will be shipped on a cargo ship. It should arrive in two weeks at most. You can find people and build a museum. Then pick out a few pieces you like and leave them for our son to keep as a private collection."

"A million?"

Qian Qiwen was visibly shocked. "How could there be so many? We only have a few major cities. How could we occupy so many? Besides... the Southern Alliance isn't just for the Chinese, after all."

Zheng Yi was stunned, then nodded slowly.

This is a problem. The SAARC is mainly composed of Chinese, and the Chinese are actually first-class citizens of SAARC. This is all good.

But at least on the surface, even if it is just pretending, they have to pretend to be equal among all races. Penang and Singapore are both authentic international metropolises.

"You two can discuss this. Appropriate exhibitions are still necessary. When establishing a museum, please remember to include items from other mainstream ethnic groups. Try not to have Chinese artifacts exceed half of the total number of artifacts."

"If there are specific national treasures that have been passed down in an orderly manner and can be proven to have been looted by the Japanese during war, they can be donated to domestic museums after the country stabilizes."

"We can consider grading non-national treasures, Ming and Qing dynasty calligraphy and paintings by non-famous artists, porcelain from non-official kilns, and various miscellaneous items. Cultural relics with relatively large reserves can be sold to the public in batches year by year."

“The proceeds will be used to establish a foundation to develop education in the SAARC region or for other public welfare projects.”

"Also, we should collect cultural relics and antiques from other ethnic groups. Since we're going to build a museum, we can't really favor one over the other."

Of course, the few cultural relics of other ethnic groups are probably just to make up the numbers. There is nothing we can do about it. After all, other ethnic groups do not have as long a history as Chinese civilization.

Even India, which is also an ancient civilization, has basically no historical relics because it has no customs of preserving history and burying people with dead bodies.

If that doesn't work, just use some modern stuff, some random stuff to make up the number.

"Why, during my absence recently, the conflict between Wu and Hua has become very serious?"

Qian Qiwen is not someone who would consider the overall situation when doing things. After all, she has close ties with secret societies, especially Hua Ji, and has never been so kind to people of other nationalities.

They actually considered the opinions of other races in such a small matter as displaying cultural relics. Even Zheng Yi didn't think so carefully.

There is definitely only one possibility, that is, she has been a little sad because of the ethnic conflicts in recent times.

Upon hearing this, Qian Qiwen sighed slightly and said, "It's indeed quite a mess. It's mainly because the British and the Dutch have been instigating it behind the scenes. Not only the Malays on the Malay Peninsula, but also the Javanese on Java and the Sumatran on Sumatra have all had some conflicts with the Chinese."

Zheng Yi frowned upon hearing this and said, "Our SAARC hasn't expanded its power to Java and Sumatra at all. At most, we've done some things on Kalimantan. Even if there are ethnic conflicts, they're probably between us and the Malays on Kalimantan. Why are the Javanese and Sumatran people getting involved?"

"The British... also instigated some Chinese to rebel."

"Instigated some Chinese to rebel? Oh~, instigated some Chinese to become compradors, right?"

Qian Qiwen nodded, and Zheng Yi couldn't help but rub his eyebrows. The British really deserved the title of the world's number one troublemaker. This matter was really tricky for Zheng Yi.

You don't have to think about what happened. The Chinese in Southeast Asia have a tradition of acting as white gloves for the Dutch and the British. To be frank, it is not entirely unreasonable for the natives in various places to call the Chinese in Southeast Asia the Jews of the East.

Although Zheng Yi has clearly expressed his support for the natives of the Dutch East India Company, party leader Su Jia also told him that he should be aware of the overall situation and want to get along with the Chinese in a friendly manner.

But Su certainly could not control the natives in the Dutch East Indies, and it was obvious that Zheng Yi could not control all the Chinese in Southeast Asia.

What would happen if the Dutch used benefits such as oil, franchises, and land to lure local Chinese into participating in the armed suppression of local indigenous people?

If the Chinese in Southeast Asia, especially those outside the major cities of the Southeast Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, do not listen to Zheng Yi, it seems that Zheng Yi, at least on the surface, has no way to deal with them.

In more serious cases, those Chinese may also have connections with Chinese in Singapore and Penang.

It is very likely that without Zheng Yi's knowledge, they had colluded with the Fujian Chamber of Commerce, Fuqing Gang, or Hongmen and Huaji within the Southern Alliance, and even secretly smuggled weapons from the Southern Alliance.

As for the Southern Alliance, it is difficult for Zheng Yi to explain clearly, and it is even possible that he will take the blame for them.

But he muttered to himself: "In the final analysis, it is because the SAARC is not centralized enough, and it lacks the ability to control and manage the entire Nanyang Chinese community."

"What?" Qian Qiwen didn't hear clearly and couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, nothing. By the way, Sister Wen, do you really have no relatives in Nanyang? After you became rich, didn't you think about inviting some relatives back from your hometown? Didn't you go and look for them?"

Qian Qiwen smiled bitterly: "How could I not have looked for them? It's just that the world has been in chaos since I came to Nanyang. My family members have long disappeared and I can't find them at all."

"Is that so? That's a shame. I was hoping that if you could still find your family, you could use them in some key positions to help me share the pressure."

"Ok??"

Qian Qiwen's eyes lit up unconsciously.

"Then I'll send someone back to look for them. Now that the war is over, maybe they'll return home."

Zheng Yi remained noncommittal. In recent years, Qian Qiwen's lust for power had grown stronger, but he didn't think this was a bad thing. He nodded and said, "Then let's look for it. Maybe we'll find it."

"After all, the Southern Alliance can only be trusted if it is managed by our own people."

………………In just three days, all the members of the Southern Alliance had been summoned, and everyone gathered in Penang, still holding a meeting in the city hall.

You should know that Zheng Yi rarely calls everyone to hold a meeting, especially this time Zheng Yi is different from the past. He actually wore an extremely serious and formal suit.

Moreover, the furnishings of the city hall today are also different from before. In the past, the city hall was just a very large and long table, with close people and those with more important matters sitting on both sides, and most people sitting on small stools in the back, in rows.

Nowadays, all the chairs in the city hall have been changed to be like those in a formal parliament, in a semi-arc shape. Because the space in the city hall itself is still a bit small, there are no tables.

However, they planned to make the city hall bigger after a while, or simply find another place to build the SAARC government affairs center, and then this place would still be called the city hall.

Zheng Yize naturally sat at a huge round table in the middle, and the seat was raised at least one meter, so his position was obviously much higher than others, but it was no longer as casual and equal as before.

Anyone who is a little sensitive can already keenly sense what is going to happen next through such changes in seating arrangements.

"Now that everyone is here, let's officially start the meeting."

Zheng Yi sat upright in his seat and spoke slowly and calmly.

As soon as he opened his mouth, the atmosphere in the entire conference hall immediately became quiet and solemn.

"Everyone, your time is precious, so let's get straight to the point. Regarding the current situation of the Southern Alliance and its future development, do you have any questions? If you have any questions, please raise them today while everyone is here."

Everyone looked at each other for a long time, but no one took the initiative to speak out.

In fact, most people have a lot of questions and even opinions, but it is obviously not appropriate to talk about them in an occasion like today.

Today is a typical general meeting. When holding a general meeting, the most important thing is to maintain the dignity of the group and the leadership, as well as to set the tone and guidelines. If there are any specific issues or even some opinions, they must be discussed at the meeting.

It’s not like Zheng Yi doesn’t know how to hold a small meeting.

Seeing that no one spoke, Zheng Yi simply continued speaking himself.

"The Southern Alliance has expanded significantly since the war. We've grown so rapidly. Just before I came back, Yoshida took the initiative to propose that one of Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, or Sapporo be incorporated into the Southern Alliance. I think everyone knows what this means."

"It's expanding too fast. You all know what that means. Previously, the SAARC only had one place, Penang, and two enclaves, Alor Setar and Yangon. Yangon was left alone, and before the war, Alor Setar wasn't really under any serious control."

“Therefore, our management model has always been rather crude. You should all be able to sense that without establishing a central SAARC board, it has become difficult for us to ensure the unity of the entire SAARC.”

"I have also deeply felt that I am incapable of effectively managing the entire Southern Alliance on my own due to my own inadequacies and lack of energy. I need help."

"There are some things I know that if I do them, people will inevitably blame me. But I also know that if I don't do them, no one in the Southern Alliance will be able to do them in the future. My descendants might even blame me."

"I have a few announcements to make. First, I will personally fund the establishment of a personal secretariat and advisory team to provide administrative support and consulting services. My wife, Qian Qiwen, will serve as the secretary-general and will also serve as my personal chief of staff. Effective immediately, I will step down as Deputy Mayor of Penang and will be fully responsible for establishing the secretariat."

"Li Jianqiao will serve as my personal Chief Private Secretary and Deputy Director of the Secretariat. Within a month, the SAARC administrative building will be newly constructed and relocated. My personal secretariat will be expanded somewhat from its current size. Everyone, do you have any questions?"

Who could have a problem with that? You said you were spending your own money.

On the surface, Zheng Yi is imitating British politics to make reforms. Qian Qiwen corresponds to Humphrey, and Li Jianqiao corresponds to Bernard, who correspond to British affairs officers, and even the names are similar.

Even many foreigners sitting below really thought so, and regarded it as the formalization of the SAARC after its expansion of power.

However, anyone with a little knowledge and understanding of Chinese history can actually see what Zheng Yi is doing: forming an inner court!
Chinese politics and Western politics are completely different, or it can be said that politics and affairs are inseparable. For thousands of years, everyone has been accustomed to the tradition of being responsible to their superiors. Besides, are you looking at two people?

One is his wife and the other is his nephew. Can these two people still restrain him?

No matter how you look at it, it looks like the Imperial Household Department!

In particular, Qian Qiwen herself has certain governance experience. Having served as the Deputy Mayor of Penang for many years, she has extremely rich experience and connections in the entire SAARC government system.

When Zheng Yi is not in charge, Qian Qiwen is the leader of the entire Southern Alliance. Aren't all matters, big or small, in her hands?
This is undoubtedly weakening the rights of the entire board of directors. Although everyone feels a little uncomfortable for a while, no one objects.

In fact, Qian Qiwen has always held a similar position beside Zheng Yi since he started his career. As early as when he was the president of Fuqing Chamber of Commerce, Qian Qiwen had been handling most of the affairs for Zheng Yi.

This time, Zheng Yi simply institutionalized and formalized it.

But this time Zheng Yi's action was indeed a little sudden.
"The advisory group will be led by the Chief of Staff and the Industrial Advisor, my disciple Wu Wenhao, who will also serve as the Chairman of the Natural Resources Management Committee and the Chairman of the Chemical Industry Management Committee of SAARC. He will also be tasked with reorganizing the SAARC Mineral and Petroleum Workers' Union."

"Li Xiaowu, a consultant for the machinery, electrical appliances, energy, and equipment manufacturing industries, was also tasked with establishing a manufacturing workers' union."

"Mr. Wang Guopan (Wang Qiaoyun's brother) will serve as the agricultural and fishery consultant. He will also be tasked with establishing the Agricultural and Fishery Cooperatives."

"Cultural Industry Consultant, Li Lili, has been tasked with forming a cultural and entertainment workers' union."

"Textile industry consultant, Mr. Risaburo Toyoda. Automotive industry consultant, Mr. Kiichiro Toyoda. They established the Textile Union and the Automotive Union, respectively."

"Scientific Advisor, Mr. Hantaro Nagaoka, has been tasked with forming an association of scientists."

“Finally, I would like to solemnly introduce to you the Chief Economic Advisor, Mr. Osamu Shimomura, who will also serve as the Director of the SAARC Economic Research Institute.”

"The positions of military advisor, diplomatic advisor, financial advisor, and public service advisor are currently vacant. Additionally, we welcome the establishment of corresponding consulting companies in the private sector. The SAARC Board is willing to pay for consulting services from the private sector, and the consultants on the advisory panel will make the purchase."

"I hope that all industries can actively formulate their own industrial planning plans and submit them to the advisory group as soon as possible. Before the middle of this year, I hope the advisory group can come up with a five-year industrial planning plan for the SAARC version."

"Oh, by the way, regarding all SAARC union affairs, marches, strikes, and demonstrations are prohibited from now on. However, two new laws will be added to all SAARC companies from now on. The main contents are as follows: First, the total salary of employees shall not be less than half of the company's total profit (research and development and expanded reproduction are counted as costs)."

"Secondly, within the same company, the maximum income gap between the general manager and the cleaner cannot exceed six times. Special industries can apply to increase this to eight times."

"The major industrial unions are responsible for supervising implementation. In addition, all workers in SAARC are legally allowed to own guns."

“All the trade unions in the above-mentioned major industries will report directly to the Labor and Social Security Department of the SAARC and the head of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, my wife Li Jiazhi.”

"After I finish speaking, who is in favor and who is against?"

After saying that, Zheng Yi leaned back gently on the chair, leaving time for the people below, while he calmly lit a cigarette and smoked it himself.

And the shareholders below indeed began to whisper to each other.

This statement contains quite a lot of information.

Everyone can see that they are using the advisory group to compete for the power of major shareholders and even city directors. To put it bluntly, this is another purely Western political system used in China.

The advisory group system in the West is very mature. As early as the Luo Yonghao era, people began to try to use national advisors to check and balance national ministers, and even to sideline national ministers when necessary.

The power of an advisor can be either infinite or infinitesimal. After all, its power comes from above, and it is only responsible to its superiors, while the power of ministers comes from below, and they are responsible to voters and parties.

The game between ministers and advisers represents the top-down game in the political ecology in the West.

When this set of things is transplanted into the Eastern system, it will seem a bit out of place, because it actually looks a bit like the Grand Council of the Qing Dynasty, and its cultural inertia is completely different from that of the West.

The most crucial thing is that all of these people actually hold the positions of president of major guilds part-time at the same time, and these are obviously not empty positions. They actually report directly to Li Jiazhi.

SAARC is not elected by the people, but by money. The ministers of SAARC cannot represent the grassroots, but can only represent the capitalists.

Zheng Yi is different from other people in the capitalist world. After all, after World War II, red tides were everywhere, and the first reaction of other countries and business owners was to suppress them, but Zheng Yi chose to guide them.

This is a force as powerful as a tsunami, but this force will not necessarily bring down the capitalists. There can always be a balance between labor and capital. It’s just that other regions mostly find balance through struggle, while in the Southern Alliance, it was Zheng Yi who took the initiative to find balance.

The red tide in SAARC is the calmest in the world, because everyone really has a minimum wage and social insurance, and SAARC even distributes houses to you.

Even this time, after Zheng Yi came back from Japan, he could share his wife with him, as long as you don't feel dirty about it psychologically.

Anyone who makes trouble is a scab. After all, World War II had just ended, and everyone knew what the world outside was like.

In the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the final decision on workers' rights has always been in the hands of his daughter-in-law, Li Jiazhi.

This position is a low-key one in the Southern Alliance. In fact, because the labor-capital conflicts in the Southern Alliance itself are not sharp, its presence is very low. Sometimes it seems that the power of the eldest lady is not as great as that of the second and third ladies, and she relies entirely on her natal family's relatives to support her.

But in fact, when the situation really changed and power was seized, as in the current situation, smart people had already discovered that this lady who had always deliberately kept a low profile was an insurmountable mountain.

After all, the real strength of SAARC lies not in those wealthy capitalists, but in those workers with guns.

In SAARC, every citizen is armed, and to this day, military training is still practiced for all citizens.

Although no one tried to touch the gun, it was obvious that the trigger of the gun was held in Li Jiazhi's hand.

This is the real anchor of the Southern Alliance.

The people Zheng Yi chose were either his own confidants, relatives, and of course, people in the industry, or they were simply Japanese.

These people have one thing in common: they are basically not influenced by the major chambers of commerce, and do not have such a deep and complex network of relationships below them.

In addition, this time the workers' union is clearly dividing people according to industry.

In fact, many people have already seen what Zheng Yi is going to do.

It was Tan Kah Kee who first stepped forward and asked the question everyone was eager to ask: "Mr. Zheng, you want to form a secretariat and advisory committee. I guarantee that no one in the Southern Alliance will object. However, you want them to serve as presidents of their respective industry unions. I'd like to ask, are you replacing regional chambers of commerce with industrial unions?"

He is the president of the Fujian Chamber of Commerce and the Xiamen Chamber of Commerce. Apart from Zheng Yi, he is actually the most powerful person in Nanyang. It is natural for him to ask this question. For a moment, it seemed that the air was filled with tense and many people couldn't help swallowing.

[This is fucking terrible. I wonder if they're going to start a fight, or even a brawl.]

Zheng Yi, upon seeing this, stopped playing around. Seeing Mr. Tan Kah Kee actually step forward, he nodded as if it were a matter of course. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Major chambers of commerce in the Southern Alliance, I believe you still have a purpose. However, your current power is too great and rarely checked. You can't truly protect the interests of the grassroots, and instead, it's causing divisions and disagreements."

"At least among grassroots workers and ordinary people, my goal is to gradually replace regional chambers of commerce with industrial workers' unions within the next ten years. Does the Fujian Chamber of Commerce have any objections to this?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jiageng looked at Zheng Yi for a few seconds.

But he suddenly burst into laughter, clasped his hands together and said, "I have no problem with this. Effective immediately, I declare that the Fujian Chamber of Commerce will be dissolved, and only the Xiamen Chamber of Commerce will be retained temporarily. Everyone, Mr. Zheng is right."

"The major chambers of commerce in our Southern Alliance used to be gangs. 'Help' means help. Because no one cared about our lives, we had to take care of ourselves and help ourselves. That's why we huddled together for warmth."

"If you eat one bite, I'll eat one bite less. If our Xiamen Chamber of Commerce earns a little more, your Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce might earn a little less. This was understandable in the past when we were still colonized by the British. Ultimately, it's all about survival."

"However, now that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has been established, we are no longer just Xiamen people, Chaoshan people, Panyu people, or Qiongzhou people. We all have a unified identity: Nanyang Chinese. We are the Nanyang Chinese of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation."

"It's time for the Chamber of Commerce to gradually fade into history. Mr. Zheng, everyone, I propose that, effective immediately, all teachers in all major elementary schools in the Southern Alliance must learn Mandarin."

"Within three years, we want to achieve universal Mandarin instruction. We want to encourage everyone to speak and learn Mandarin. I propose that Cantonese opera, Fujian opera, and any other art and entertainment forms that use dialects as their performance be transitioned over a three-year period. After three years, the use of Mandarin will be mandatory."

"If anyone can't learn, then I'm sorry, but I suggest that they be forcibly dismissed."

"What do you think, Mr. Zheng?"

Zheng Yi was slightly moved when he heard this, and he sighed deeply with some emotion. He said, "I agree with everything. Thank you, Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen is truly a role model for overseas Chinese and a pride of our nation."

Tan Kah Kee: "Ha, I wouldn't dare ask for such high praise in front of you, Mr. Zheng. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Zheng and I both agree on this. Is there anyone who objects?"

(End of this chapter)