Chapter 112 Reasonable

The later Kra Isthmus is located in a narrow strip of Chumphon and Ranong provinces in Thailand. It is the narrowest point in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, only fifty kilometers wide. It connects the Indochina Peninsula in the north and the Malay Peninsula in the south, and the area belonging to Thailand is about 75,000 square kilometers.

As for the rest, it is now under the jurisdiction of British Burma, covering an area of ​​30,000 square kilometers. The Kra Isthmus is the intersection of Myanmar and Thailand.

What is known so far is that part is in the hands of British Burma and part is in the hands of Thailand, with a total area of ​​about 100,000 square kilometers.

Together with West Malaysia, once incorporated into the British colony, the area will be more than 230,000 square kilometers. West Malaysia is only a part of British Malaya, and East Malaysia still has more than 200,000 square kilometers of land. If a strong colonial government can be established in Malaya, a large part of the employment problem of British Indian civil servants can be solved.

Apparently, Cabinet Secretary Edward Bridges also thought of this. What worries him most about the independence of the British colonies is what will happen to the 100,000 civil servants serving British India once they become independent.

There are only 260,000 civil servants in the UK, and it cannot afford employment for up to 100,000 people. Moreover, a large part of the authority of the cabinet secretary itself rests on the colonies.

There are only so many ministers elected, which is extremely disparate compared with the size of civil servants, and this disparity is magnified to the extreme in the colonies, which is even more serious than in the mainland.

"Alan, sit down and talk slowly." Edward Bridges let Alan Wilson relax with a gentle smile, "As far as I am concerned, civil servants returning from the colonies have always been treated equally without any prejudice. Yes. You can see that in Alexander, let's talk about our future."

Edward Bridges bit the word us very hard, referring to the group of all British civil servants, "In fact, the most lacking in the civil service group is people who protect our interests. You can think of this at your age. It’s so rare, it can be seen that you are very fond of the place in British Malaya.”

"Sir Edward, I did this out of selflessness, all for the sake of the civilization and order of the British Empire." Alan Wilson said with a correct attitude, "We cannot give up all the colonies. Once we return to the British Isles, with the resources of the United Kingdom and the The population is always under the shadow of the United States and the Soviet Union, and once it becomes normal, even the original colonies will look down on us, and the consequences are extremely serious."

"Does Malaya have advantages over other colonies?" Edward Bridges was not persuaded, but wondered whether British Malaya was worth being favored by resources. "British India is the richest colony, but we Had to consider evacuating."

"The biggest advantage of British Malaya and the biggest difference from British India is that the proportion of Chinese and Malay populations is close to half and half. In British India, even if we support Jinnah, the population of peace believers is only Indian. A small part of the religious population still cannot play a role in containment. But it is completely different in British Malaya!"

Alan Wilson knew that the starting point of a bright future is today, suppressed the excitement in his heart and analyzed in detail, "Two ethnic groups with similar population sizes are in one colony, and we have saved a lot of cost in terms of containment. .The colonial government didn’t consider containment at all, we are the judges. Whoever we say is right is right!”

Alan Wilson was eloquent and deeply believed that this was an advantage for the British colonial government. In other colonies, the British Empire had to bother to provoke ethnic conflicts, but in British Malaya there was no need for this, conflicts existed naturally.

In the eyes of local Malayans, the British Empire is of course an undoubted colonizer, but the Chinese are also invaders on another level. The Chinese have their own country, but they are stuck in Nanyang.

The key is,

Now the Netherlands is ready to return to the Dutch East Indies. In a sense, the UK can leverage on this. The UK and the Netherlands can cooperate in Nanyang.

Moreover, British Malaya is also very important in terms of location, not far from the two most populous places in the world. It is also most suitable as a base from the unknown considerations of the comeback that the liberal imperialists in the UK now have in their minds.

The benefits are not limited to these. British Malaya is not far from Australia. Once a British colony is focused on management, Australia will give more consideration to the United States.

For the British colonies, the cultural influence of the United Kingdom far exceeds that of the United States, but no matter how strong soft power is, it is not as effective as hard power. If the British army has a sense of presence in Southeast Asia, it may be able to get some help from Australia, and Australia will not completely to the United States.

"The construction of British Malaya requires a huge amount of manpower. Your idea is very good. Do you want to allocate manpower?" Edward Bridges was a little troubled. The British Empire of India has been built for more than 100 years, and now Europe The battlefield has just ended, and Britain needs to be rebuilt. How about making Malaya prosperous first?

"Marshal Montgomery has reorganized the German soldiers to maintain order in the British-occupied area." Alan Wilson gave his own answer, "The Japanese army's military operations in Nanyang focused on punishing the Chinese in order to win over the local people. If we put The surrendered Japanese troops were handed over to the Chinese to manage, which can save a lot of management costs.”

"What you said is true?" Edward Bridges' eyes lit up, and he said smoothly, "Given the extent of the Japanese army's damage to Nanyang, it shouldn't be too much for us to temporarily detain Japanese soldiers to build the area."

"It's not too much, Sir Edward." Alan Wilson lowered his head and chimed in.

"This is also for justice to come." Edward Bridges nodded to himself, "Very reasonable."

"Very reasonable!" Alan Wilson turned on the repeater mode, expressing his determination to stand in the same trench as the cabinet secretary.

"As for letting the Chinese take care of the Japanese soldiers, it's all because of their similar appearance, which may reduce conflicts." Edward Bridges straightened his back, "The Chinese are always gentler than the Malays."

"I really didn't expect Sir Edward to have such a research on Asian customs." Alan Wilson was greatly admired, and flattered him as a top student of the Oriental College, although he himself had not yet officially graduated.

"Then, you can send a telegram to Barron in my name." Edward Bridges glanced at Alan Wilson with a look that I am very optimistic about you, and said, "I want to show the Prime Minister a copy." Economic revitalization plan, and at the same time talk about when, find an opportunity to talk with European countries that share a common position.”