Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 252: Be gentle when you should be gentle, and be ruthless when you should be ruthless

"What is the biggest difficulty in Malaya now?" Zheng Yi asked Datuk Ong after leaving the meeting place.

"The main problem is agriculture. Malaya's agricultural production was indeed severely damaged during the Anti-Japanese War and has yet to fully recover. We are completely unable to be self-sufficient in food crops."

"Well, this matter is actually my fault. I think a lot of people must have strong opinions about this, right?"

"Mr. Zheng, what are you talking about? It's all about resisting the Japanese, isn't it? Besides, those plantations are all Chinese. UMNO has been asking if SAARC can plant something else on those rubber plantations, like sugarcane or tobacco. At least that would create some jobs for the landless farmers."

What they were talking about at this time was naturally about Zheng Yi ordering the Chinese to burn down the plantations before the Japanese invasion.

The climate of the Malay Peninsula is suitable for growing rubber, and the rubber plantations were almost all in the hands of the Chinese during the British colonial period. With just one word from Zheng Yi, almost all the rubber plantations were burned down.

After all, rubber is a strategic resource during wartime and cannot fall into the hands of the Japanese.

However, it is easy to burn, but it is difficult to replant. Natural rubber only starts to produce after six to eight years, which means it will be delayed for six to seven years.

The Chinese basically do not tap rubber anymore. Even if they use extremely intensive production to wash and squeeze the rubber, it can at least accommodate a portion of the Malay and Indian employment population.

However, since there is no visible profit from the plantations in the short term, and the SAARC itself has developed rapidly after the Anti-Japanese War, generally speaking, all Chinese who have rubber plantations in the Malay Peninsula are important members of SAARC and the backbone of the group. They are all top Chinese tycoons who participated in Penang when it was first established.

Almost all of them live in Penang Hill in Penang.

These people have many ways to make money, and gradually they have become less concerned about the plantations.

At present, all the plantations have been burned down. After the Chinese took back the plantations, most of them chose to abandon them temporarily and no one cared about them.

Even if a small number of people plant rubber trees, once the seedlings are planted, no human labor will be needed within six to eight years. All we have to do is wait for the rubber trees to grow naturally, and naturally, it will not create more jobs.

It is obvious that Datuk Ong also has opinions on this, but he just expressed it in a somewhat obscure way.

Zheng Yi also said, "Growing cash crops often doesn't benefit the vast majority of the lower-income people. While it makes money, most of the money goes to the plantation owners, often causing a polarization between the rich and the poor. In comparison, growing food is naturally more affordable for ordinary people, at least it can effectively reduce food prices."

"Whether a region grows more food crops or cash crops, and whether plantations contain more shrub crops or forest crops, is essentially a class issue."

Zheng Yi suddenly smiled and turned around to ask, "Has anyone ever said that the plantation business in Malaya is the exploitation and oppression of the Malays by us Chinese?"

Dato Onn thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, "Indeed, there are. Especially after the victory, a large number of plantations were completely abandoned, and the workers were not allowed to grow rice. This is actually the most common entry point used by UMNO and PAS to incite confrontation between the UMNO and Chinese."

"Mr. Zheng, if you really treat us Malays as your own people, this matter really needs to be resolved."

Zheng Yi sighed: "They really treat us as United Fruit."

In history, United Fruit Company did something similar. It would rather leave the land originally used to grow bananas empty and idle than allow the Latin American people to grow rice and corn. This even led to famine in Latin America, killing hundreds of thousands of people.

Zheng Yi certainly attached great importance to this, because this incident happened to be the fuse for United Fruit's decline in Latin America.

The situation in Malaya is of course very different from that in Latin America. At least no one will starve to death, and Malaya is originally a food importing country, but the current situation really needs to be resolved.

Even if we don't consider factors such as labor and food needs, leaving so many large tracts of land lying idle is not a solution.

But he asked in return: "Rice cultivation in Kedah should be quite good, right?"

"It's not bad, but there's still a lot of wasteland that hasn't been developed yet. In Kedah, basically all the rice we grow can be sold at a good price."

Zheng Yi: "It just so happens that I came back from Japan this time and brought with me a lot of agricultural experts. Objectively speaking, Japanese agricultural experts are still very capable, especially in rice cultivation. They are not inferior to those in Europe and the United States, and are even better than those in Europe and the United States."

"Once the new government is formed, you will be responsible for organizing it. We will send some agricultural experts from Japan to conduct a thorough investigation to determine which areas in Malaya are suitable for reclaiming wasteland and growing rice."

"I also understand that food is the most important thing for the people. In the past, we planted as much rubber as possible wherever we could. If rubber wasn't an option, we would plant palm oil. We made a lot of money, but it's true that food prices never came down. This was really hard on the poor Malay people at the bottom of society. This was all caused by the British."

"However, the Malay Peninsula is mountainous and hilly, with strong sunlight, so not all areas are suitable for growing rice. In some hilly areas, if you absolutely must grow rice, you'll have to create terraced fields." "But that's pointless. It's labor-intensive and unprofitable. It's better to continue growing rubber or palm oil in these areas."

"What I mean is, I can make the decision. When I go back, I can persuade those Chinese farmers who still own plantations to buy them out. Although it's not easy to privatize them directly to you Malays, we can make them public property of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and distribute them to nearby Malays for cultivation through administrative means."

"At that time, we can have Japanese agricultural experts conduct an assessment, and then you Malays can form a commune and vote together to decide what to plant on the land. If the population is indeed dense and the demand for food is high, can we stop planting rubber and plant bananas instead?"

"Also, cash crops like peanuts, cocoa, coconut, pepper, mango, pomegranate, tobacco, etc., if everyone agrees to plant them together, you can plant them after a vote."

Anyway, the supply and marketing are in the hands of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, especially those cash crops. Zheng Yi plans to conduct securitization transactions in Penang. As for the planting activity itself, it is becoming increasingly unsuitable for the Chinese to participate.

To put it bluntly, most of the Chinese in Southeast Asia are city dwellers, and it is almost impossible for anyone to be willing to go to the villages.

"However, there is one thing I hope can be implemented. Since our Chinese land can be redeemed and allocated to Malays for cultivation through policy means, I hope that when the time comes, you Malay landlords will also sell your land like our Chinese landlords."

Dato Ong: "Ah, this... is it forced? If so, maybe some people with ulterior motives will still..."

Zheng Yi: "This depends on the governance level of this Malay government. You can regard this as a test of your governance ability. For a country to be prosperous and strong, government workers always have to put in some hard work and effort."

"I can guarantee that the price you Malay landowners sell your land for will not be lower than that of us Chinese. Every Malay who sells his land will get a good price."

"You can tell them that they can use this money to set up factories in the city, for example, in the textile industry. In fact, I think they can move out of Alor Setar to a certain extent."

"If you're willing, you can buy textile machines from Penang. We can also provide training for the workers here. If you want to save some trouble, you can form a partnership with the Japanese. If you're short of money, you can also get a loan from a Penang bank."

"I can ask the bank to make this a special loan, buy it at a low price, and use the factory itself as collateral."

"Don't worry about raw materials or sales. A few days ago, someone from the Southern Alliance established a specialized cloth and cotton trading company and a securities exchange. You can purchase raw materials directly from the exchange in Penang, and you can also purchase and sell them through a unified purchasing and sales agreement with us in the Southern Alliance."

"Your government only needs to be responsible for planning land use. As for water and electricity, you can contact SAARC. We will be responsible for building water plants and corresponding power plants."

"Aren't you Malays envious of the urbanized lifestyles of the Chinese? This is the true beginning of your urbanization. Once these people sell their land, gain money, and open factories, more and more Malays will migrate to the cities to work and become the first group of true urban dwellers."

"As for the farming itself, right now, it's indeed a special situation. Within five years, the Southern Alliance can guarantee that no rent will be collected. After five years, the rent collected will not exceed 20% of the original land tax. Of course, as for how much tax they have to pay for farming, that's your government's business. It has nothing to do with me, and I won't interfere."

Zheng Yi looked Dato Ong in the eyes and said, "To put it bluntly, it is we in SAARC who pay, or even lose money, to ensure that the Malays enjoy their basic rights in agricultural production."

"We in the Southern Alliance have already come this far. If there are still some landlords and nobles who want to take advantage of the situation, raise the price, or simply refuse to sell their land, then I can only ask Anand to take some drastic measures."

"For any country or nation that wants to shed its burdens, move forward, industrialize, and enter modern civilization, it is imperative to curb and crack down on landlords."

"For the development of Malaya, we in the SAARC are willing to pay a small price, because I truly regard you Malays as brothers."

"You know, Borneo is basically all part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation now. There's a lot of wasteland there, and I'm planning to develop it on a large scale. As for the labor force, should I use you Malays or recruit a large number of Japanese workers? To be honest, I'm very conflicted."

"But after thinking about it, I really considered it for a long time before deciding to use you."

"That Yoshida guy wants Osaka to join the SAARC. Honestly, I currently agree in principle. The reason I've been holding off on agreeing immediately is so that Malays can be given priority for employment. I hope you can also become prosperous as soon as possible and initially achieve simple industrialization."

"I have already come this far. If there are still some Malays who don't know the current situation, Datuk, politics cannot only be soft-hearted. When it is time to be ruthless, you still need to be ruthless."

Dato Ong: "This... I understand Mr. Zheng, I will definitely do well."

Zheng Yi: "After your government is established, I will lend you a sum of money, probably about 20 to 30 billion South Asian francs, to build roads and improve basic service facilities on the Malay Peninsula."

"For agriculture to develop, it all comes down to agricultural machinery, farm tools, and agricultural infrastructure. For infrastructure development, we can bid for loans. Simply put, if you have demand, we can produce. This is also a top priority for Singapore's development in the coming years."

(End of this chapter)