Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 306 Indonesia and Oil

At the same time, in Jakarta, Indonesia, which had just gained independence.

When the bell in the conference room rang for the seventh time, the Surabaya representative slammed his revolver on the long teak table. The barrel inlaid with mother-of-pearl reflected the blood-red image of the crescent flag outside the window, startling the crows perched on the shoulder of the bronze statue of the colonial governor.

"Gentlemen, what are you waiting for?" Major Amir's scar moved in the candlelight. "The cargo ships at the Jakarta docks are filled with silk from Chinese merchants, and the plantation owners in Yogyakarta are still keeping accounts in Cantonese. Are our bullets only suitable for hitting the Dutch?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the conference room couldn't help but turn their heads to look at Zhuang Xiyan, the Chinese representative.

With international mediation and the unremitting efforts of the Indonesian people themselves, the British and Dutch colonists were finally driven out of Indonesian soil. This country, which had been repeatedly ravaged by the colonists for several long centuries, seemed to have truly ushered in its own freedom and liberation.

However, after the Dutch left, a large power vacuum inevitably emerged here. How to run a country, what kind of country to create, and even whether to establish a common country are the problems faced by all Indonesian people now.

It is precisely because of this that the nominal leader, at least temporarily, General Secretary Su, specially convened a conference of representatives from all over the country in Jakarta to discuss and study the future direction of the country.

However, just as so many people sat down, and even before representatives from various places had time to arrive, some people were already impatient to fire attacks on the so-called Chinese issue.

Even in front of Chinese representatives.

As the Chinese representative, Zhuang Xiyan just glanced at the representative from Surabaya indifferently without saying anything. Instead, he continued to lower his head and write something in his notebook with a pen, and did not even bother to argue with him.

He just muttered quietly in Linqing dialect: "Sishui, whether it was the previous anti-Japanese war or the subsequent resistance against the Dutch and British, fought the most tough battles because it is indeed a strategic location. Indeed, the current military strength is really a bit strong, and here, the Chinese really have no say."

The Sumatran imam removed his gold-threaded prayer cap, revealing his shaved scalp. "The victory granted by God must not be sullied. The shops of the infidels must hang Arabic signs, and women must wear veils."

"And let our warriors gnaw on palm roots?"

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted. The son of a chief from Kalimantan, turning his ancestral rhino horn seal, said, "We gained independence at the cost of the blood of hundreds of thousands of warriors. It was to protect our people from being bullied by those cunning Europeans. And after that? It was to lead our people to a better life."

The prince from Kalimantan turned and said to Zhuang Xiyan in a respectful, even humble tone, "Only our Chinese brothers can lead us towards industrialization and modernization, allowing us to live a good life like the Malays and Siamese."

"Fellow countrymen, we are fighting for civilization. Our victory should not lead us back to backwardness. How can we move towards civilization? The only way is to learn from China and learn as much as possible from the advanced experience of the South Asian Association for Southeast Asia. We should seek their advice and even ask the Chinese to help us build a brand new, modern nation."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Xiyan just nodded at the prince without saying much, but the prince from Kalimantan nodded and bowed, as if Zhuang Xiyan's nod was a great encouragement to him.

The one-eyed general from Medan tapped the edge of the table with his prosthetic hand, the right hand crushed by a British tank during the Battle of Blitar. "Four hundred boxes of quinine disappeared from Tanjung Priok last month. The Chinese captain who guarded the warehouse is now lying in an opium den in Chinatown."

"Mr. Zhuang, I have no prejudice against you Chinese, but as far as I know, your Nanyang Chinese community, especially Mr. Zheng himself, has always hated opium."

"I know Mr. Zheng has been busy in the Middle East lately, rescuing our Arab brothers. But I heard him say this in the Middle East: 'Because we Chinese have been caught in the rain, we are willing to hold an umbrella for others.' We, Indonesia, are also part of Southeast Asia. After all, we are close neighbors, right? Why are you so busy holding an umbrella for those in the Middle East thousands of miles away, but forgetting us who are so close to you?"

Zhuang Xiyan smiled and nodded at him, but spoke for the first time, saying, "The Nanyang Chinese are a very large group, and their composition is very complex. Objectively speaking, even Mr. Zheng cannot truly control all of them."

"We must make this clear. The Chinese in Southeast Asia are not a monolith. If a Chinese person among your subordinates clearly breaks the law, you must do what you should do. Do not hesitate to do anything just because he is Chinese."

"that……"

Li Nian, the representative from Palembang, bared his pale teeth and rubbed his hands unconsciously. He said to Zhuang Xiyan in a friendly manner, "Could you please talk to the Huang family in Semarang? We guarantee there will be absolutely no problem with taxes. We are indeed in trouble now. Could you help us increase the loan to 2000 million Dutch guilders? No, it's Indonesian rupiah now."

This guy is obviously a Javanese, but he gave himself a Chinese name. He spoke Chinese, but not fluently at all, and even stumbled. Zhuang Xiyan found it difficult just to listen to him.

I thought to myself, you might as well speak English, or even Javanese.

Zhuang Xiyan can speak Javanese, English and Dutch.

I could only smile and nod, perfunctorily responding.

With a bang, Major Amir of Surabaya slammed the table hard and even pointed the revolver in his hand directly at Zhuang Xiyan's head.

"What are you doing? Fawning over the compradors who exploit us?"

Seeing this guy took out the gun, those people who had been trying to please Zhuang Xiyan just now fell silent. Zhuang Xiyan even saw eager looks in the eyes of several of them, as if they were hoping that this idiot would actually shoot him.

Zhuang Xiyan himself was not panicked at all. Instead, he smiled and crossed his legs, took out a cigar, lit it slowly, and started smoking.

"Do you think I'm trying to scare you and that you don't dare to shoot?"

Zhuang Xiyan nodded after hearing this: "Yes."

Amir: “…………”

"Okay, Amir, does it look like you're the only one with a gun? Put it down."

Seeing that the situation was becoming increasingly uncontrollable and even a little tense, President Su, as the acting president, finally couldn't help but speak out and interrupted this farce.

"We are here today to hold a meeting and discuss the future of the country, not to fight."

Outside the window, the red and white flag fluttered in the heavy rain, and under the flagpole lay the remains of British Lee-Enfield rifles.

General Su stood up and handed a stack of documents to Zhuang Xiyan, saying, "Mr. Zhuang, this is our preliminary draft of the 'Regulations on Foreigners' Business Management'. You can take a look at it and see if you have any comments. Feel free to raise them."

Zhuang Xiyan took it and glanced at it. Seeing everyone looking at him nervously, he couldn't help but sneer and said, "I didn't even know this bill existed, and you guys passed it. Now you're showing it to me, what's the point?"

The so-called Alien Business Administration Act is actually the predecessor of the historical "Fortress Policy".

Simply put, foreigners were prohibited from operating 36 reserved industries, including rural retail, rice and sugar trade, short-distance transportation, etc., and later a few years later, it was expanded to textiles, bicycle repair, etc.

Simply put, anything that the locals can do, the so-called foreigners are not allowed to do.

In addition, there are some other ancillary restrictions, such as the so-called "Indigenous Economic Revitalization Fund", which requires foreign companies to deposit 30% of their profits into it, which is actually a disguised way of collecting an additional 30% tax.

There are also some minor details, such as foreign-owned enterprises must employ 60% indigenous employees, and the proportion of indigenous people in management must not be less than 40%.

In fact, this matter itself was not very secret. The intelligence agency of the Southern Alliance had obtained their detailed information long ago, so Zhuang Xiyan knew what the content was without even looking at it.

But he said, "This is something Mr. Zheng specifically emphasized to me before I came here. That is, in your eyes, am I, and the Singkawang and Semarang that I represent, one of our compatriots who built our country together? Or are we foreigners representing the interests of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation?"

"Mr. Su, we need to understand what this so-called foreigner means. Forget about others, even myself, I was born and raised in Indonesia. Indonesian is even my mother tongue. So, I'd like to ask you, am I considered a foreigner?"

"Mr. Zheng means that we don't agree with the term 'foreigners'. You might as well just call us foreigners."

“If you want us to be foreigners, that’s fine. Although SAARC is a non-state actor, I think we can belong to Malaysia. In that case, I can leave today’s meeting now because I am an outsider.”

"Whether it's this policy or how you want to deal with the Chinese, overseas Chinese and Chinese businessmen in your country, it's up to you. As outsiders, we have no objection. However, if diplomatic relations are not handled well, it's hard to say whether you Indonesians and we Malaysians will go to war or even have a territorial dispute."

"Of course, if you are willing to treat us as part of your big family, we are willing to accept that and work together to create a better life every day. But since you drafted this law behind my back, does that mean it lacks any legal basis?"

In just a few words, he made clear his and SAARC's attitude towards the matter. After he finished speaking, people around him, such as the fake Chinese in Semarang and the prince of Kalimantan, actually applauded and cheered for him.

After all, this is actually the contradiction that Indonesia has in its attitude towards the Chinese.

Or perhaps it is the contradiction of Indonesia itself.

The entire country is divided into three large islands: Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan, as well as hundreds of various small islands.

Since Kalimantan Island is closest to the SAARC, it has the most frequent exchanges with it. Bandar Seri Begawan in the north, Pontianak and Singkawang in the south are all cities with a predominantly Chinese population. During the years of independence war, the Dutch and the British had to give face to Zheng Yi and SAARC and avoided these places. Therefore, these cities, regardless of their name, have actually been under the actual control of SAARC for a long time.

The indigenous people on the island of Kalimantan are mostly Malays. During the war, these Malays always relied on these Chinese cities for protection. In addition, Zheng Yi had already negotiated with Shell, and all the income from oil wells on the entire island of Kalimantan now belongs to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Therefore, as early as the first year of the war, the Dutch and the British had basically withdrawn from Kalimantan.

It is precisely for this reason that Kalimantan is now actually controlled by SAARC. Several warlords on the island follow SAARC's lead, and the local Chinese armed forces also have their own armed forces, so it is impossible for them to be bullied by the indigenous people.

In fact, Kalimantan had taken the initiative to propose many years ago that it should directly merge with Malaysia and become part of Malaysia. Zheng Yi's attitude towards this was noncommittal, neither participating nor minding. On the contrary, Malaya did not agree with this.

Because the ethnic situation on the island is still quite complex, in addition to the Malays there are also a large number of Dayaks, and the ethnic conflicts between the Dayaks and the Malays on Kalimantan have not yet been resolved. Simply put, the Dayaks were originally the indigenous people of Kalimantan. Later, the Malays came and drove the Dayaks to the inland areas of the island and into the forests. They occupied the relatively developed and flatter coastal plains. Only later did the Chinese and Dutch arrive.

In terms of population, the Malays and Dayaks on this island are about the same. The Malay government is a federal government itself and has no interest in expanding its territory. Historically, they didn't even bother to take over the three southern provinces of Thailand. Although Kalimantan has oil, that oil already belongs to the SAARC.

Whether they return or not, they all belong to the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation.

Therefore, Malaya did not want Kalimantan very much.

The island is not big enough, so there is no idea of ​​separating from Indonesia for the time being. Anyway, it is now following the SAARC economically. The Chinese eat meat and the natives drink soup, which is not a bad thing.

Sumatra Island is not far from the SAARC sphere of influence. There are a large number of Chinese in Medan and Palembang, and they have independent Chinese communities.

But these Chinese people do not constitute the majority, and not all of them listen to Zheng Yi. Among them, a large number of Chinese people are really compradors of the Dutch, and they really act as lackeys of the Dutch and the British and have done many things that harm the local indigenous people. Even these things are still continuing.

They even relied on their Chinese identity to bully others in Sumatra.

Zheng Yi's attitude has always been very clear: he supports Chinese people to be compradors of Americans, and does not support Chinese people to be compradors of the old European powers.

Strictly speaking, he himself can be regarded as an American comprador. In fact, Americans do things in a much more humane way than the Dutch and the British.

He also knew that the situation was difficult to reverse. In fact, Zhuang Xiyan himself had received a Dutch education since childhood, and his family was a typical comprador family. All Zheng Yi could do was to appeal to the Chinese in Southeast Asia not to be running dogs of colonialism, but even if his appeals were ignored, Zheng Yi could not send troops to attack them.

Then all he could do was to cut ties. If the Chinese in Indonesia were stubborn and insisted on going the same way as the Dutch, or continued to colonize the native Indonesians, then Zheng Yi would not care whether these native Indonesians acted according to the law or arbitrarily.

As long as the scope of the attack is not expanded to bully Chinese civilians, especially women and children, it will be fine.

The indigenous people on the island are both wary of and dependent on the Chinese. Although there are some religious issues, they are actually harmless. After all, Nanyang is not like the Middle East. Fundamentalism will always exist, but it is difficult for it to become a big deal. Apart from being a bit annoying, just ignore them.

Although the Chinese still occupy a large amount of economic benefits, there are certainly conflicts. Zheng Yi himself admitted that the Chinese, with less than 10% of the population, occupy 90% or even 99% of the economic resources of the island. It would be a miracle if there were no conflicts.

But at least in some areas of Sumatra, the indigenous people can also benefit from the SAARC. Recently, SAARC has been discussing labor export with them, hoping to use them to replace Indian workers. SAARC even has policies to encourage local Chinese to withdraw from the agricultural sector and actively lend money to local indigenous people.

The contradiction itself is very complicated, and there is a strong separatist tendency on the island of Sumatra. After all, if the island itself were to establish a country, it would at least be considered a medium-sized country in the international community.

The main ethnic group on the island is the Sumatran people, so why should they listen to you Javanese? Therefore, several major mainstream forces on the island want to use the power of the Chinese to fight against the Javanese on Java Island.

Some people even have the idea of ​​using the power of the Chinese to grow bigger in the future, and then turn the tables and become the masters of Indonesia.

Java Island is more troublesome. The Javanese have a sense of ownership towards Indonesia. Seeing that the Chinese control so many economic resources, they will naturally be hostile. In addition, since the Anti-Japanese War, everyone has developed a gene of disliking each other. And the most important thing is that this place does have relatively few economic ties with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Take Surabaya as an example.

The people in this place are typically poor and rude, at least in Indonesia, they can be described as full of martial virtues.

The most important industry is oil refining, which is in serious conflict with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Without the Chinese and Europeans, the local indigenous people don’t even know how to refine oil. In addition, the refinery here was destroyed in turn by the Japanese and local Chinese arranged by Zheng Yi during the Anti-Japanese War. Now the possibility of repairing the factory is very low.

Even if it is repaired, to be honest, it will be of no use. The Matthew effect is very obvious in the chemical industry, and this place is unlikely to form a competitive relationship with Penang.

Then naturally they are particularly hostile to Chinese people, which is normal.

Although the Nanyang Chinese have economic advantages, to put it bluntly, economic advantages are only useful when dealing with people who have some money. They are useless when dealing with those who are truly poor and have nothing.

You say you're sanctioning them? There's nothing they can be sanctioned for.

You say you support them and help them develop their economy? That's too difficult, and really unnecessary.

And what is crucial is that Jakarta is located on the island of Java. To a certain extent, Jakarta can indeed dominate the national policies of the entire country, although this policy may not be implemented and carried out at the local level.

After saying these words, Zhuang Xiyan returned the document with a smile. He did not get furious or bargain with him at all as President Su had expected. He was open-minded and said, "You can do whatever you want."

"you……"

"Okay, you guys have been talking for a long time, so I'll say something."

"I'm here to convey Mr. Zheng's message. Things are already moving in the Middle East. Mr. Zheng is saying that countries like us, which were once colonized by Europe, must unite."

"Mr. Zheng proposed that we jointly establish a trust alliance targeting oil organizations, jointly limit the amount of oil extracted and the scale of refining, and establish our own oil transportation company. In short, we should control the price of oil ourselves."

"Mr. Zheng asked me to ask you, do you want to join or not?"

President Su frowned: "What will happen if we don't join?"

Zhuang Xiyan laughed and said, "Not much, it just guarantees that your oil won't be sold. Or, are you planning to sell the oil to Shell?"

Mr. Su: "Mr. Zhuang, I think that compared to the oil issue, the most important thing for us now is to discuss how to govern Indonesia. You Chinese occupy more than 90% of the country's economic resources. How can we strike a balance?"

Zhuang Xiyan: "No, the current issue is oil. Mr. Zheng has instructed us not to get too involved in the governance of Indonesia. We are only focused on oil. As for the bill you mentioned, if you really want to enact it, then just try to enforce it."

“A representative from Palembang.”

"Yeah," Li Nian agreed.

"Are you willing to join Mr. Zheng's oil alliance?"

"Yes, yes, I do. Of course I do."

"Are the representatives from Kudu, Wonokrom, and Zhilaza here?"

Three people raised their hands.

"Are you willing to join our oil monopoly system and henceforth increase or decrease oil production according to the requirements of SAARC to ensure higher oil prices?"

"us……"

The three representatives looked up and saw President Su staring at them with eyes like knives.

"We are willing, but we have one condition."

"What conditions."

"The Southern Alliance must provide us with military protection, otherwise..." As they said this, the three of them looked at President Su with a little fear.

"Yes, President Su. We in the SAARC will arm the local oil workers and establish a local security group. Anyone or any country who dares to wage war against these three places will be tantamount to declaring war on us in the SAARC."

Mr. Su: "No, I don't agree."

"I'm sorry, I'm not discussing this with you. If you have any opinions, you can just try it yourself."

After that, he turned to the other side and said, "What about Minas on the island of Sumatra, the representative of the Xihe Oil Field? No objection, right?"

"No, of course we have no objection. We do not need the military protection of the SAARC, but if possible, we hope to receive some weapons from the SAARC, preferably including fighter jets."

Zhuang Xiyan: "Of course, that's no problem. You can just exchange it for oil."

There is no need to even ask on Kalimantan.

Zhuang Xiyan turned around and asked President Su, "President Su, do you have anything else to say? If not, I'll leave first."

(End of this chapter)