Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 251 Do you want to make the Chinese poor or the Malays rich?

Relatively speaking, Malay is relatively easy to learn.

In fact, the reason why it is difficult for Malays to assimilate the Chinese is largely because the language itself is not rich enough and is too simple to express relatively complex emotions.

Zheng Yi is an educated man after all. He can speak English, German and Japanese. It is not difficult for him to learn Malay as he already has the language environment. Besides, he can just translate the speech and write it down.

This trick was also used by Singapore's Lee in history, and it worked very well.

When politicians who are dedicated to getting things done face politicians who are dedicated to provoking ethnic confrontation, the best way is to use practical actions to tell everyone that they do not treat you as outsiders.

Then historically, Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia.

Almost everyone in Malaysia has the surname Lee.

At this time, Zheng Yi's status was naturally much higher than that of Li of the same period. On the contrary, Mr. Dong's power was much smaller. When they heard Zheng Yi's speech in Malay, they all widened their eyes and opened their mouths.

An indescribable and inexplicable feeling affected each of them.

Not to mention, today's speech was originally broadcast live throughout Malaya. In the entire Malay Peninsula, every Malay who was listening to the radio stopped what they were doing involuntarily when they heard Zheng Yi's Malay speech on the radio.

"Recently, I haven't been back to Nanyang due to some things. I know a lot has happened in Nanyang. There have been conflicts between the Chinese and the Malays, and some very bad things have happened."

"Today, as we are all meeting here, I do not want to say some nice words that are meaningless. Let us lay out the facts and talk about it. It seems that there is indeed a certain degree of inequality between the Chinese and Malays. I do not deny that there is no fairness between the Chinese and Malays in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

"The current situation is just like this. The Chinese are generally richer than the Malays. Penang and Singapore, as the main cities for Chinese people, are more prosperous than any other city in the Malay Peninsula, Southeast Asia, or even Asia. When Chinese people look for jobs, their salaries are generally higher than those of Malays, sometimes even several times higher."

"The facts are the facts. I'm not trying to deny them or force some nonsense like equality between Malays and Chinese. I don't consider myself a politician and I'm not good at such hypocritical political rhetoric."

"Economic inequality leads to political inequality, and all of this is partly caused by British colonists.
Because for the past hundred years, the British did not allow you Malays to plant rubber or engage in commercial activities, although I think this has nothing to do with us Chinese, or at least we are not responsible."

"However, the current situation is already like this. There is no point in trying to determine who is right or wrong. The British have made a mess in Malaya, and all we can do is hold our noses and wipe it clean."

"I can even understand the so-called Malay privilege concept that some of you have put forward. This is essentially asking for compensation for the British colonization of Malaya for a hundred years. The Chinese are rich, while the Malays are poor. Even if the British leave in the future, and the poor Malays are allowed to compete fairly and freely with the wealthy Chinese in business, it will be difficult for the Malays to gain an advantage in fair market competition."

"But if violence disrupts the status quo, will the lives of the Malays be better? Do you really have control over violence?"

"Everyone, I treat you as my compatriots, my relatives. I want to ask, can 'Malaya for the Malays' really help the Malays? Do you want to make the Chinese and you poorer, or do you want the Malays to become richer?"

"Some people believe that Malay should become the sole official language of Malaya in the future. Honestly, I don't mind and it's not unacceptable to me. But will this increase the price of Malaya's agricultural products?"

"Can the role of Malays in economic activities be improved? Can Malay farmers be helped by obtaining more agricultural machinery from the government and better agricultural infrastructure in rural areas?"

"I understand UMNO's political philosophy. They want Malays to directly own shares in Chinese business companies, like they did during the Japanese occupation, right? So the question is, even if we Chinese agree, how many of our 450 million people can actually become shareholders?"

"It's 0.3 percent, almost all of it coming from the Malay nobility, landowners, and a small elite group with experience studying abroad."

"Can this 0.3 percent of Malays lead the rest of the Malays to prosperity? How can the rest of the Malays, those living in rural areas, move to the cities? How can they enter Malaya's modern society? Will they become servants of the 0.3 percent?"

"Open their car doors and polish their shoes?"

"There are indeed quite a few wealthy Chinese who drive big cars and live in luxury houses. Is the solution to the Malay problem to get a few Malays to drive big cars and live in luxury houses too?"

“Who is deceiving the people, making them believe that they are poor because they lack privileges? Because we Chinese are against the privileges of the Malays?”

“What if I agree to your adoption of Malay as the official language, but as a result, your Malay economy does not improve at all?
If you don't learn Chinese, English, and if the Chinese are unwilling to learn Malay, how are we going to spend money to buy agricultural products from you? "

"Let me tell you, we Chinese can buy agricultural products from Siam and Sumatra. If you can't sell your agricultural products, wouldn't that be a loss for your economy? If you really do this, the Sumatran and Siamese people will definitely be very happy."

“Whether you speak Malay or not, or whether government documents are in Malay or not, will not increase your income.”

"If you believe in these things and agree with the proposals of those in UMNO, then when you face economic, social and political failures in the future, they will definitely say, 'Oh, it's all because of the damned, evil Chinese and Indians who stole the resources given to us by God.'"

"But I am not against the basic rights of ordinary Malay citizens. Malays should have the basic right to education and the right to improve their education, skills and abilities through education and competition, so as to achieve the same social status as us Chinese and compete fairly with the Chinese in society."

"Instead of indoctrinating the Malays with foolish theories, or even letting them hold a Quran written a thousand years ago to guide their lives, they are taking advantage of the ignorance of the majority of Malays to gain privileges for a small number of Malays with ulterior motives."

"I admit that if you Malays unite and make trouble with me, I am willing to give up some power, even if it is just to avoid being annoyed and to keep things peaceful, so that those who organized you can drive luxury cars and live in luxury houses."

"So, my dear Malay compatriots, would you rather let these few Malays live in luxury houses and drive big cars, or would you rather I invest this money in the countryside and in infrastructure?"

"SAARC is indeed planning to invest a large sum of money. In the next five years, our investment in the Malays will not be less than 50 billion SAARC dollars."

"Now, the choice is in your hands, in the hands of every Malay with the right to vote."

"For those who choose UMNO, I will use the money to compensate Chinese merchants as they wish, allowing them to unconditionally distribute a portion of their shares to the Malays in exchange for our peaceful coexistence. However, this will only benefit 0.3% of the Malays, allowing them to live the same life as the wealthy Chinese."

"If I choose Dato' Onn, I will spend the 50 billion South African rupiah in the vast rural areas. We will provide low-interest or even interest-free loans to Malay farmers to purchase agricultural machinery."

"We will build roads, generate electricity, and provide infrastructure in the vast rural areas." "Most importantly, I will establish basic education in the vast rural areas of Malaya, and charge no tuition, so that every Malay child can afford to go to school and have the opportunity to study and learn, and truly become as outstanding as the Chinese, and be able to compete fairly with our Chinese children in society."

“Of course, at least for a period of time, within one or two generations, the Malays will still be poorer than us Chinese. But through learning, education, and the trickle-down effect, I can promise you all that the Malays themselves will live better and better and become more prosperous.”

"Is it a choice to live in harmony with the Chinese people and achieve common prosperity?"

"Or do you choose to cause trouble with us Chinese, allowing the 0.3 percent of Malays to become extremely wealthy?"

"Of course, you can also choose to return to the J-Party. In that case, I don't know what else to say. It's up to you. If you choose war, or even want to chop off our Chinese heads, we Chinese are certainly not without guns. Think about it yourself, are your heads harder than those of Showa Japan?"

"I have finished speaking, and you can think for yourselves. Isn't popular election about giving the power of choice to the people? I believe in and respect the choice of you, the Malay people."

After saying that, Zheng Yi bowed to the audience and left.

He does not intend to get too involved or too deeply involved in Malay politics. He still needs an agent in the future. He just wants to express his attitude today.

He really hopes that the Malays can be one of the SAARC's own people. SAARC's future influence will spread throughout Southeast Asia, and even have a certain influence on India. However, the Chinese he has under his command are only seven or eight million at most, which is not enough in any case. The Malays are the closest and most trustworthy group in Zheng Yi's setting besides the Chinese.

Although the Malays in Malaya had some bad attitudes towards the Chinese in history, they are still the tallest among the short ones and are basically the most anthropomorphic of the indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia.

The Malaysian Chinese have also preserved their culture the best and most completely. Even though there was a short period of turmoil, it was mostly just a matter of making money, not a life-threatening situation. Compared with other indigenous people of the same period, they are still much better off.

This is also the reason why Zheng Yi values ​​Malays the most.

Of course, if they are shameless, there is nothing we can do. There are plenty of alternatives, such as Thais, Indians, Sumatran people, and Burmese.

It was not until half a minute after Zheng Yi finished his speech that the entire conference hall, which held hundreds of people, fell into an eerie silence.

It was not until more than half a minute later that the Malays and Indians from Datuk Onn's faction finally reacted. They stood up and started cheering loudly. The entire venue erupted in thunderous applause, and Zheng Yi responded with a smile.

In fact, a large part of Zheng Yi’s speech today was plagiarized from the historical Singaporean Lee, which was also the main ideology used by Singapore in history to unite Malays and Indians.

That speech is very famous.
After that, Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia.

Of course, the specific process is actually very complicated. Singapore itself is not part of Malaysia, which is also the point that is most easily misunderstood by ordinary people in later generations.

Originally, Lee was very eager to join Malaysia. Mr. Dong and others thought they were getting a good deal, so they agreed. They sent people to stir up trouble in Singapore, trying to incite confrontation between Malays and Chinese in Singapore, hoping to make UMNO a check and balance against the Progressive Party in Singapore's political arena.

As a result, no one expected that Lee would be so powerful. He quickly entered Kuala Lumpur and made a large number of Malays begin to actively support the Progressive Party. Only then did UMNO realize: You are not here to be my younger brother, but to be my boss.

Go away, Singapore can take whoever it wants, I don’t want anything anyway.

In this time and space, of course no one has the ability to kick Zheng Yi and Penang out, and he has much more ammunition than Li.

Its overall idea is basically in line with Li's idea.

Li is definitely a political genius. As early as the 60s, he realized what the real weakness of these religious ethnic groups was that could undermine them: education, especially grassroots education.

Whether in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, due to insufficient financial resources, grassroots education, especially rural education, is mostly controlled by religious forces. However, after primary education, these countries quickly connect with the West in higher education.

It is said that in the past Afghanistan was so poor that the courses taught in the luxurious multimedia classrooms of universities were about LGBT and women's rights, while the vast rural grassroots areas were all religious primary schools.

It would be a miracle if this society is not torn apart.

The Chinese want to live in harmony with the Malays.

Or in other words, anyone who wants to live in harmony with this kind of religious nation.

The first thing to do is to kick out the influence of religious schools at the basic education stage and provide them with better basic education, especially township-run primary schools.

You have to know that mainstream Western scholars only gradually realized this problem after the 21st century. Before that, they actually believed that feminism would be the thing that could undermine this traditional religion.

Just after Zheng Yi finished speaking, Mr. Dong and others couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Zheng Yi's ammunition is indeed too abundant. For a long time in the future, it will be difficult for their UMNO to develop, or they may have to go to the deep mountains and forests, poor areas and compete with PAS for the people.

This should be Zheng Yi's purpose.

Fortunately, Zheng Yi promised to give him and the core members of UMNO certain benefits. This can be considered a blessing in disguise, right?
Because there was a live broadcast, many Malays, especially those in the city, were listening to Zheng Yi's words. Most of these people originally supported Datuk Onn, and after listening to Zheng Yi's speech, they couldn't help but feel overjoyed.

A few Malay dignitaries, especially religious dignitaries, were devastated after hearing the broadcast. However, unlike in history, most intelligent people did not have any thoughts of resistance. Instead, they were thinking about how to gain greater benefits for themselves from future cooperation between Malays and Chinese.

If there are really people whose brains are not particularly good, it will be difficult for them to get any support from the people in cities and relatively developed areas. As long as Datuk Ong and others are not stupid, they will definitely find ways to let more Malays who have not heard Zheng Yi's speech today know about it.

(End of this chapter)