Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 258: Mrs. May visits Penang; Jews want to help Arabs fight against France

Although in later history, Israel and Syria were mortal enemies at the national level, in this time and space, at least before the first Middle East War, there was basically no conflict between Syrians and Jews.

Syria has never been a region with a particularly strong religious flavor. At least in the Middle East, it is relatively secular, and there is actually the possibility of cooperation or even alliance with Israel.

Simply put, Syria itself has always had an anti-French tradition before World War II. Although the French colonial era, like other regions, deliberately increased ethnic conflicts in the region by creating conflicts, dividing races, and provoking internal and external forces to increase local instability, the local anti-French movement has continued to flourish, even forcing France to grant them a certain degree of autonomy before World War II.

It is quite similar to Britain and India.

Alawish, whom SAARC plans to invite to Penang to give a speech, is the leader of the anti-French uprising who has organized many uprisings and has a very high reputation in Syria. Although the anti-French uprising itself failed, his prestige is very high, even in the entire Arab world, and he has the title of hero.

Moreover, this person is not a religionist in the narrow sense. His slogan is: "Religion belongs to God, but the motherland belongs to everyone", "National, not regional, Arab, not sectarian, independent, not oppressed."

His speeches and opinions have almost no religious appeal and are even anti-religious, which is also the basis for Zheng Yi to believe that he can cooperate with him.

In fact, in the Middle East during this era, fundamentalism was far less severe than in later generations. The few heroes in the Arab world that could be named almost all put religion second, and some even wore suits.

Sometimes, the idea that the wheel of time will only move forward is actually a beautiful illusion unique to modern Chinese people.

During World War II, France raised its true national flag under the iron hoof of the German army. The Free France led by General Dai exploited and oppressed the colonial regions, leading to an increasingly violent uprising in Syria.

In 1943, due to the needs of war and the troubles caused by the United States and the Soviet Union, President Dai recognized the independence of Syria and Lebanon, but asked the Syrian army to help France fight the war. Syria also declared war on the Axis powers as a sovereign state.

However, after the war ended, General Dai ordered the French army to invade Syria again and carried out the two-day Damascus Massacre.

Mr. Dai is just like that, an extreme pragmatist. He has no morals or integrity when dealing with foreign countries and colonies. He doesn't even take off the millstones when killing a donkey.

It wasn't until last year that France withdrew its troops from Syria.

The reason why the French withdrew their troops was because of mediation by the British.

And the reason why the British mediated was because the Jews came and the British were busy stirring up trouble.

So, in fact, there is such a connection between Syrians and Israelis.

At least during this period, if you gave the Syrian people guns and asked them who they would fight between the Jews and the French, I am afraid that more than 99.99% of them would choose to fight the French.

You must know that although the country is independent, Syria's Baath Party has never recognized the division of the borders in the Middle East by Britain and France, believing that it is an imperialist conspiracy to harm the people of the Middle East.

After all, ethnicity, religion, culture, and geography are all drawn at random. People of different ethnicities and beliefs are intentionally forced together, while people of the same ethnicity and beliefs are separated into different countries. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that they are not doing a good job.

Compared with the Palestinian region, what happens to the Jews actually has little to do with the Syrians.

In comparison, Lebanon is undoubtedly much more important to Syria.

You have to know that Lebanon and Syria were originally one family in history. They were forcibly separated by the French in order to divide and win over the two countries. Syria's unification of Lebanon is part of the realization of national unity.

Moreover, the Lebanese region is relatively wealthy, with ports and centralized markets. It is a distribution center for Middle Eastern cash crops such as olives, and is also a connecting channel between Europe and Asia. The ruling Maronite faction is a pure French agent.

It is necessary to point out that although the Lebanese people at this time were indeed mainly Christian Maronites, Lebanon was originally a concept forcibly carved out by the French.

To make an analogy, it is equivalent to the Japanese occupying China and allowing Shanghai to become independent before evacuating. They used the excuse that most of the population in Shanghai were Japanese and naturalized Yamato traitors, so the Japanese and traitors should be the main ethnic group ruling Shanghai. If you other Chinese want to overthrow the Japanese rule in Shanghai, you are invading.

Is this reasonable?

This is the situation in Lebanon now.

I believe that most people in the world will have a clearer understanding of the geographical location of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

Mrs. May was so experienced that she immediately understood the benefits of this for the newborn Israel.

If Syria can really attack Lebanon, the main contradiction in the Middle East will most likely change from the contradiction between Arabs and Jews to the anti-colonial contradiction within the Arab world itself.

From a religious perspective, the conflict will change from one between Muhammad and Judaism to one between Muhammad and Christians, or the British and French agents.

Mrs. May immediately said: "We Jews went to the Middle East to establish a nation, not to seize Arab land or occupy Arab homes. On the contrary, we came with sincere intentions to help the Arabs get rid of the colonial oppression of the British and French powers."

Although this narrative cannot suppress everyone in the Middle East, it can at least divide them. Even the British colonies will still hate and be hostile to them. At least France's old colonies will definitely be affected by this.

Thanks to France, especially President Dai’s Free France for its great contributions to the Middle East.

Even among those British colonies, you have to know that the royal families of Jordan and Egypt are puppet compradors of the British.

Some big chess players who believe that all geopolitical games are games between great powers even believe that the essence of the First Middle East War was a war between Israel, the proxy of the United States and the Soviet Union, and the Arabs, the proxies of Britain and France.

Although it is outrageous, the Arabs' anti-colonialism will eventually turn against the royal families of Egypt and Jordan.

If this narrative can be done well, it can at least greatly alleviate the hatred of the local Arabs towards their Jews, or at least cause a certain degree of confusion in their internal narrative, which can greatly reduce the survival pressure of their Jews.

Of course, it will offend France to death.

But if you offend someone, you offend them. Don't the French have anti-Semitism? They are just a defeated country that is called a victor but is actually defeated.

They are Jews, but they are the father of America who controls the financial industry in the United States. What can the French do to them?

"I will raise this with the Cabinet when I return. It's not a big deal." Mrs. May sighed and then said seriously, "The political wisdom of the Nanyang Chinese is truly worthy of our learning. Is this the Eastern wisdom that has been passed down through the millennia of Chinese civilization?"

Our Western civilization tends to be straightforward and doesn't know how to be roundabout. I've really learned a lot from you, the Southern Alliance. It's a shame I didn't get to meet Mr. Zheng this time. It's a real shame."

Everyone wanted to carry the fancy sedan chair and everyone wanted to hear flattery. Li Xiaoshi couldn't help showing his joy for a moment and began to introduce the development history of the Southern Alliance and the various architectural facilities in the city to Mrs. Mei.

Penang, which had just experienced war, has now regained new vitality. Although it has been less than two years since the end of the war, it has already restored its pre-war prosperity, and even surpassed it. While introducing it to Mrs. Mei, Li Xiaoshi was also filled with pride in his heart.

When Mrs. May learned that the rows of beautiful buildings in Penang were distributed to the people at almost free prices as welfare, she could not help but praise them and sighed that in the future Israel would also provide houses to every Jew.

Li Xiaoshi just smiled and said nothing when he heard this. He felt a slight envy for these Jews, but he couldn't help but feel quite disdainful.

The reason why the Nanyang Chinese are given houses is that if you don’t give them houses, these people will not take it as their home. The Chinese have a motherland.

Moreover, everything the Chinese have achieved in Southeast Asia is achieved through hard work, but this is not the case with the Jews.

People just took the money and went there to buy land.

Envy and contempt.

Many people in later generations said that the Jews robbed the Palestinians of their land. This is actually not quite right. At least in the early days, the Jews' land was indeed bought with real money. For example, the famous Rothschild family bought more than 9 million acres of land and then gave it away free of charge to the Jews who were willing to live there.

The so-called statement that the Arabs took the Jews in out of pity is indeed a bit too ridiculous. The Arabs themselves are still colonies.

In fact, the money from the land sale played a crucial role in the post-war recovery of the British Empire.

Of course, the Arabs can also say that you can buy land, but there is no reason to build a country directly on the bought land. That land was bought from the British, and it did not fall into the hands of us Arabs. The origin of this matter is a confusing account with each party having its own reasons.

"I see there are still many Malays in Penang. They are religious, right? You Chinese seem to get along quite well with them. Are these people working as servants in Penang?"

Li Xiaoshi: "I can only say that some of them are servants. The wages in Penang are indeed higher than other places. Some people are indeed willing to come to Penang to work."

"But the majority are Penang Malays who have settled in Penang. These people are treated the same as Chinese citizens. Most of them have made contributions during the war or are the surviving relatives of soldiers."

“Of course, some highly qualified Malays who have certain skills or have made certain contributions to SAARC can also obtain official Penang identity, but to be honest, at least so far, there are still very few such people.”

"Mr Zheng believes that the Chinese are more of a cultural ethnicity than a blood ethnicity. In fact, as long as the rate of immigration is objectively controlled, the Malays can also be assimilated into the Chinese."

"And objectively speaking, we are all Asian after all. Although there are slight differences in our appearance, they are not that big overall."

Mrs. May: "Assimilating by controlling numbers does make sense. It seems you get along quite well. By the way, why do we see so few Indians?"

Li Xiaoshi was a little embarrassed when he heard this: "Well... uh... it's still too difficult to assimilate Indians."

In fact, strictly speaking, Zheng Yi did have plans to assimilate Indians before, and his plans to assimilate Indians were even earlier than those of the Malays.

Later he discovered that it was indeed difficult to assimilate Indians. In addition, even the elite Indians who had gained the trust of SAARC were obviously more willing to live and work in Perak and Yangon.

At present, the number of Indians in Yangon is much larger than that of Chinese. The Indians have not been assimilated much by the Chinese, but the Chinese have been almost assimilated by the Indians.

After all, the Chinese are now a de facto upper caste in India.

Zheng Yi was really afraid that this caste culture would influence the Chinese, or even combine with the original Confucian culture of the Chinese, that is, the culture of ruler-ruler, minister-minister, father-father, and son-son, to develop another set of fallacies and heresies. So in fact, he is now on high alert against Indians culturally.

People, at least many people, still hope that everyone is equal above them and that there is a strict hierarchy below them.

"Can you tell me how you Nanyang Chinese manage to coexist so harmoniously with the Malays, while the Malays are basically... uh... basically powerless?"

Li Xiaoshi: "In fact, it's not completely harmonious. There was quite a bit of trouble a while ago. Of course, it was mainly the British who were stirring up trouble."

Mrs. May: "Well, it's the same here. Over here, the British are basically behind the scenes, but overall, the local Arabs hate us... Well, if we can't gain a foothold in the Middle East, I'm afraid our nation will be driven into the sea, unlike you who still have a homeland to return to."

Li Xiaoshi: "Malays are generally not that deeply religious. And Mr. Zheng said that the conflict between Malays and us Chinese is indeed a racial conflict, but it is more of a class conflict and a contradiction between urban and rural areas."

"Urban development is inseparable from the support of rural areas. Even from the perspective of stability and security, appropriate concessions are necessary. Overall, the Chinese in Southeast Asia and the indigenous people of Southeast Asia must rely on each other for win-win progress."

"Actually, Mrs. May, if the Jews want to achieve stability and peace in the Middle East, it is very important to find Malays who belong to the Middle East, especially the Malays in Kedah. Syria and Lebanon, in the entire Middle East, are relatively more secular than Arabs in other regions."

Mrs. Mei seemed to be thinking about something. She said, "Indeed, Mr. Li, I heard that the Malays in Nanyang also have a very well-developed city. They live in harmony with you Nanyang Chinese. It's called... called..."

“Alor Setar.”

"Yes, it's Alor Setar. Can you please let me go to Alor Setar to take a look?"

"Of course. In fact, we in SAARC also have Malay armed forces in Alor Setar. In fact, if, we mean if, Israel is faced with a war, if you can hire the Malay divisions in Alor Setar to help you fight, at least politically, it should still be effective."

To be fair, although the first generation of leaders of Israel were all Zionists, they were not as crazy as later Israelis. In fact, they were still willing to live in harmony with the local Arabs.

At least they all know very well that the development of any country is inseparable from a healthy and safe surrounding environment.

Historically, Mrs. May has been driven out of office by the Israeli people as a weakling, and among the first leaders of Israel's founding, Mrs. May was already considered the most radical and toughest.

(End of this chapter)