Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 112 The Colonial Office Invites
"Read the newspaper, read the Penang Daily. There's big news in the Penang Daily."

"Penang Urban Development has launched a home ownership scheme, where everyone has a house to live in, with water and electricity. Everyone has a house to live in, with water and electricity."

"Big news, big news! Standard Oil of California and Persian Oil have chosen Penang to build a large-scale, million-ton refinery."

"Great victory, great victory, great victory on the front line, 'General' Ho Shai-lai has defeated the Kedah natives, our army has won a great victory, long live~~"

After its establishment, Penang naturally had its own media group.

Although it is actually still Hu Wenhu's Sin Chew Group, it just opened a Penang Daily under the Sin Chew Daily section, but it can also be regarded as the official mouthpiece of their Penang.

Throughout the day, there were so many big news in the newspapers that everyone paid special attention to them. Almost every piece of news would normally be considered the front page of the front page.

As a result, the Penang Daily, Sin Chew Daily and Nanyang Press were all sold out that day because so many people bought them.

Everywhere you look, people are standing at street corners, in pubs, on docks, holding newspapers and reading aloud.

Anything else would have been fine, but when they heard that they were going to build houses for all of them for free, with water and electricity, the people of Penang went almost crazy.

"Long live Mr. Zheng!!"

“What’s the use of the word ‘long live’? It’s clearly written in the newspaper that you must have made contributions to Penang, worked for more than three years, and have a registered permanent residence to have a chance. And families of three or more are given priority. Do you understand?

Do you have more than three years of work experience? Do you have a wife? Do you have a son? Isn't it clearly written here? The one with the most children in the family is given priority. Brothers and sisters don't count, and parents don't count either."

"What's so difficult about this? If I work for a few more years, I can get my household registration. Besides, I have a wife. She's in China. I'll write to her right now and ask her to bring the children to Nanyang to join me."

"Isn't your wife at home taking care of your parents?"

"Never mind, let my brother take care of it for me. As the eldest brother, I can't even pay for it."

In comparison, whether it was the oil giants planning to set up factories or Ho Shai-lai defeating the local natives, they all seemed to become unimportant.

If nothing unexpected happens, Penang’s population will soon usher in a new wave of explosive growth.

Although the current population is only about one million.

Once those who come out to work alone bring their wives and children with them, the population will probably explode to two million or even more than three million.

This is also the biggest purpose of Zheng Yi's policy.

Is it really a good thing if a city, a country, or a regime is filled with young and middle-aged people?
A city with a population of over one million people actually earns quite a bit despite the labor shortage. The average wage in Penang is now at least three times higher than that in China, and is not inferior to Shanghai at all. But where is the vitality of Shanghai?

All the money earned from working is mailed back to China. No one spends it. How can this city develop?

The Nanyang Chinese of this era really don't spend money on themselves. Historically, the reason why the Nanyang Chinese donated so much money to the country during the Anti-Japanese War had a lot to do with the fact that they had money but nowhere to spend it.

Because people don't have the habit of spending money, many people mail all the money they earn back home except for the necessary food and drink.

After Japan occupied Fujian and Guangdong, the two provinces that were the home of the Nanyang people, they lost contact with their families.

I don’t know how to spend the money, and I can’t send the money I earn to my family.

Then just donate all the money to the country for military expenses.

This is the fundamental reason why donations from the Chinese in Southeast Asia accounted for more than one-third of the military expenditure in the early stages of the Anti-Japanese War.

This is certainly a good thing for the country. In fact, it is also a very important source of foreign exchange for the Nanjing government.

But in fact, this is also the fundamental reason why the Chinese in Southeast Asia have never been able to take root and gain a foothold in Southeast Asia.

However, Zheng Yi doesn't care about other places, but he still hopes that Penang can become more normal.

Simply put, they must be allowed to bring their wives and children here so that Penang can become a normal city and then develop.

Otherwise, no matter how much investment he gets or how beautiful he builds Penang, most of the workers will just go back home after making money, and Penang will always be a mirage.

As for parents, don't force them.

In this era, people who went to Southeast Asia did not have only sons. Generally, the older sons went to Southeast Asia, and the younger ones stayed behind. The sons in Southeast Asia were only responsible for postal money. Whether Zheng Yi was there or not, these men who went to Southeast Asia would have had little chance to fulfill their filial duties.

Countless Penang residents went crazy, and Zheng Yi’s already high prestige in Penang was also rising wildly.

Just a few days later, the people of Penang were surprised to discover that their wages were all going up. All the major chambers of commerce, unwilling to lag behind, were almost all getting underway. With so many construction sites underway simultaneously, cement and brick factories naturally had to follow suit.

Those large petrochemical plants are all tens of millions of US dollars projects, and none of them is much less than Penang Petrochemical. Although they are still in the planning and surveying stage, it does not prevent them from recruiting workers in advance.

Because the wages here are high and the benefits are good, a large number of Chinese from Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, New Town, and even Singapore, after hearing that there are job openings here, have flocked here one after another.

The workers ran away, and places like Singapore could only continue to recruit from within the country.

With Penang as the source, a huge scale of Chinese siphoning began.

Who would have thought that just half a year ago, the entire Nanyang was still worried about too many refugees, too few jobs, and too high unemployment, and was almost about to drive away those new immigrants who had no jobs.

However, in just half a year, the Chinese in Southeast Asia encountered a labor shortage. Those tycoons and presidents of chambers of commerce all went back to their old jobs and started picking up people from their hometowns in China in batches.

Citibank and Morgan, which originally planned to lend 10 million US dollars to Zheng Yi for urban construction, just as Zheng Yi expected, took the initiative to approach him and increased the 10 million US dollars to 20 million US dollars.

As for the matter of contracting US military services, Zheng Yi didn't need to bring it up himself, as they had already made the arrangements.

Zheng Yi used the money to set up a government contracting company and began to build a city government, investing in public services such as electricity, water conservancy, streets, sewers, schools, hospitals, parks, trams and buses.

And, of course, there's the police force.

Li Xiaowei originally reported a budget of 50 million Malaysian ringgit in order to make Zheng Yi feel distressed and intentionally make things difficult for Zheng Yi.

As a result, after Zheng Yi came back, he not only did not have any objection to the 50 million, but instead added a one in front of it.

One hundred and fifty million Malaysian ringgit.

Zheng Yi is now determined to follow the path of Singapore's future, leaving Singapore with no way out.

The entire Penang has become a 24-hour construction site, with construction workers working overtime everywhere even at night.

At first glance, it seems no different from before Zheng Yi came back.

However, if you look closely, although there are more people in Penang, it is obviously not as smelly as before, and the streets have become cleaner.
Although it was still a mess everywhere, it was miraculously not as dirty as before, and there didn't seem to be that sense of disorder and chaos anymore.

If you look more closely, you will see that these workers who work hard day after day, although the work is still heavy and hard, their smiles are much brighter than before.

On weekdays, I am willing to eat some meat for myself and wear good clothes for myself.

The spirit of the entire city is improving significantly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

A month later.

"Ayi, just now, the Colonial Office called. Mr. Perak said he wants to invite you to Kuala Lumpur. He said he has invited the nine sultans. He said, let's sit down and talk. We can clear up any misunderstandings."

Now in Penang, the only one who still calls him Ayi is Li Xiaoshi. When Zheng Yi heard that he was going to Kuala Lumpur, he instinctively felt a little resistant.

Objectively speaking, power corrupts people, and Zheng Yi is also a vulgar person. He is indeed becoming more and more accustomed to the feeling of being the center of attention in Penang. He is reluctant to go out, especially to Kuala Lumpur.

After all, Kuala Lumpur is the territory of the Colonial Affairs Bureau.

Zheng Yi: "Do you think I should go?"

Lee Hsiao-shih: “There is no need to worry about security issues. Penang is no longer the Penang of Malaya, but is becoming more and more like the Penang of the world.
Honestly, thinking about it now still feels like a dream. Unless the people in the Colonial Office are crazy, they won't touch a hair on your head. If anything happens to you, no one in the entire Colonial Office can afford to offend you."

Zheng Yi: "As for safety, I'm not worried myself. But honestly, I don't think I can discuss anything with them if I go. Besides, I'm so busy, it would be a waste of time."

Lee Hsiao-shih: "No matter what, Penang is still nominally a colony of British Malaya, and...

Honestly, your previous use of the Dutch Royal Navy to land in Perlis was indeed a slap in the face of the Colonial Bureau and even the entire Far East Governor-General's Office."

"This matter itself can be big or small. The relationship between Britain and the Netherlands has been good in recent years, especially since this matter involves Shell Oil.
Normally, no one would want to pursue the matter, but since everyone is willing to pay the price, you should at least give the Colonial Office some face and give them a way out."

"Even if we take a step back, now is the time for Penang to develop and build. The nine sultans are numerous and powerful, and we are surrounded by them. It is better for us to live in harmony."

Zheng Yi: "Live in harmony? The fight has already come to this. How can we live in harmony until one side is defeated?

But you do have a point. Since they've invited me, I'll just go and take a look. I hope the Colonial Office is genuinely sincere and isn't just trying to stir up trouble again."

(End of this chapter)