Singaporeans invest and emigrate in India.

Indonesia is known as the "country of ten thousand islands", and its territory is distributed in the vast Malay archipelago, with 17505 islands, of which Java is the most populous island, reaching1450,000. The largest island is kalimantan island, but it belongs not only to Indonesia, but also to Malaysia and Brunei in the north of the island. Indonesia occupies the largest area of the island.

Kalimantan island was divided into three parts because European colonists divided their spheres of influence in Southeast Asia. Before 1950, the north and south of the island were colonies of the Netherlands and Britain respectively.

Dutch colony gained independence for the first time in 1950 and became modern Indonesia. 1963 When the British colonies on the island were preparing for independence, Indonesia hoped that these places would be merged with the Malay Peninsula (including Singapore).

However, northern kalimantan island (except Brunei) and the Malay Peninsula ignored Indonesia's strong opposition to their integration into Malaysia. Malaysia and Indonesia not only had a fierce armed conflict, but Indonesia even withdrew from the United Nations for a time.

So, where did Indonesia's "great power ambition" of annexing Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei come from?

A, * * * with ancestors

Indonesia believes that there are sufficient reasons to merge with Malaysia. Apart from the fact that both countries are located in the Malay Archipelago, the main ethnic groups are all evolved from ancient Malays, and their languages, religions and cultures are very similar, which is the basis of Indonesia's "great power ambition".

Archaeologists believe that about 5000 years ago, ancient people began to migrate from the Asian continent to the Southeast Asian Peninsula, and then spread to the Malay Archipelago. They belong to the Mongolian race and Austronesian language family. After merging with the aborigines on various islands, they formed hundreds of ethnic groups, collectively known as "Guma people".

▲ There are more than 200 ethnic groups living in the Malay Archipelago, all of whom are descendants of ancient Malays.

Because people from the South Asian subcontinent came to Southeast Asia early to do business and spread knowledge, the ancient Malays were deeply influenced by Buddhism and Hindu culture. The earliest developed ancient Malays tribe is Javanese, which is the main ethnic group in modern Indonesia.

Around 1500 BC, the Guawa people spread to Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, kalimantan island and other places. They occupied a great advantage in the Malay archipelago and gradually formed some ancient countries. Since the 7th century, Javanese have established the kingdom of Sanfo Qi on Sumatra, covering the whole Malay archipelago.

The kingdom of Sanfo Qi has maintained a good relationship with China since its rise. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, its king paid tribute to China. With the development of maritime trade, Chinese from the southeast coast began to emigrate to Southeast Asia and Malay Archipelago.

Almost at the same time, Arab businessmen gradually came to the Malay Archipelago. They built ports and trade transit stations on some islands to spread Islam. Although the local religious pattern dominated by Buddhism and Hinduism has not been broken, it has begun to change.

▲ There are traces of Buddhism and Hinduism everywhere in the Malay Archipelago, and Indian culture has a profound influence.

/kloc-At the beginning of the 4th century, the kingdom of Sanfoqi was destroyed by another Java country that believed in Hinduism, and the Buddhist forces were hit hard. With the strong expansion of Islamic civilization in Central Asia and West Asia and the decline of the South Asian subcontinent, Islam finally surpassed other religions and became the main religion of ancient Malays at the end of 15.

With the continuous support of Arab merchants, the ancient Malays established a series of Islamic Sultanates and wiped out all non-Islamic countries. Due to the geographical limitations of many islands, Islam did not form a unified country, but split into many small Sudan countries.

▲ Hang Li Po Well Monument in Malacca is said to have been excavated by Zheng He when he went to the Western Seas.

For hundreds of years, in order to escape the war, Chinese people have been migrating, mainly living in the Malay Peninsula, especially in Malacca, the southernmost part of the peninsula. In the Song Dynasty, a shipping company was established in Malacca to manage the busy Maritime Silk Road. /kloc-Zheng He's voyage to the Western Seas, which began in 0/405, brought more immigrants from China, mainly engaged in commerce and farming.

/kloc-Before the 6th century, the ancient Malays in Malay Archipelago and Malay Peninsula had basically converted to Islam. Although it can be subdivided into many ethnic groups, they all belong to the category of ancient Malays, and their languages are very close, with Javanese accounting for about half. In addition, there are Indians, China people and Arabs living in this area, and some people still maintain their own national characteristics.

Second, the new nation produced by the colony.

15 1 1 year, the Portuguese occupied Malacca, which opened the colonial era in Southeast Asia. Europeans first took advantage of the contradictions among the Sultanates, and then used sending troops to help the war as bait to monopolize trade and even foster puppets.

16-19th century, Portuguese, Dutch and British all fought for Southeast Asia. After a long battle, the weakest Portuguese was driven away, leaving only a small colony in South Malaysia, the predecessor of East Timor.

The Dutch captured the most colonies, not only most of the Malay Archipelago including Sumatra and Java, but also the southern half of kalimantan island. When the Dutch first arrived, Brunei was in its heyday and owned the whole of kalimantan island. Under the attack of Dutch and British colonists, Brunei quickly fell into decline and its territory became smaller and smaller.

The British first seized the Malay Peninsula, then seized the northern half of kalimantan island from Brunei, and established two colonies of Sarawak and Sabah. Brunei not only became a pocket country, but also became a British colony in 1906. These places constitute the British Malay colonies.

▲ Malays and Malaysians in the colonial governor's office in Kuala Lumpur are products of the colonial era.

/kloc-After Britain turned India into its own colony in the 0/8th century, it began to introduce a large number of Indian immigrants to Southeast Asia, further changing the proportion of the local population. After the Opium War, the control of the Qing Dynasty on the coastal people was greatly weakened, and more China immigrants came to Southeast Asia.

These immigrants from India and China are integrated with the local people. Some of them stick to their own beliefs and cultural customs, and many of them have converted to Islam. By the beginning of the 20th century, a new ethnic group appeared in the British Malay colony, that is, Malays who believed in Islam and mainly came from ancient Malaysia, mixed with Indian and China ancestry, and became the most important ethnic group in Malaysia.

As the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula guards the Straits of Malacca, its strategic position is extremely important. 1867, the British drew it out separately and directly belonged to Britain. In the past, a large number of Chinese immigrated, and Chinese became the majority of the population. This colony later formed Singapore.

Compared with the mixed-race and diversity of Malays in British colonies, there are few immigrants in Dutch colonies, and more languages and customs of ancient Malays are preserved, and their bloodlines are purer. But the cruel oppression of the Dutch was even worse than that of the British, which led to the poverty of Indonesia later.

Generally speaking, it was European colonial rule that led to the division of ancient Malays. The ancient Malays in the British Malay colony considered themselves "new Malays" to distinguish them from other Malays under Dutch colonial rule. In fact, Javanese and Malays are closely related, and their languages are basically the same, which is also the biggest historical basis of Indonesia's "great power ambition".

Third, Greater Indonesianism.

Due to the weak national strength, the Netherlands withdrew from the competition for maritime hegemony in the early18th century and focused on the Malay archipelago. With a powerful navy, the Dutch integrated nearly 20,000 islands and ruled over more than 200 ancient Malays, including Javanese.

For 300 years, the cruel exploitation of the Dutch has never stopped the resistance of the local people. In order to ease the contradiction, the colonial authorities trained many local ruling classes to go to Holland to receive western education. But it is these international students who have learned the consciousness of national liberation from the west. Since the end of 19, they have used "Indonesia" to refer to the Malay nation-state they intend to establish.

Indonesia's independence movement was accompanied by "Greater Indonesianism" from the beginning. People who hold this view believe that the whole Malay archipelago and Malay archipelago have only one single nation and the same language, and the Dutch and British colonies should be unified.

By about 1920, this idea had been widely spread, and it had a certain market in British colonies, and a similar "pan-Malayism" appeared. The two factions also privately discussed the idea of establishing a single Malay state after independence.

Under the suppression of the British and Dutch colonial authorities, the independence movement developed slowly, but it was accepted by more and more people. Unfortunately, this unit was used by Japanese fascists and sided with Japan in the Pacific War, because Japan promised to merge the British and Dutch colonies into one country.

▲ The Japanese verbally said that they liberated the colonies, but in fact they were more cruel and greedy than westerners.

However, Japan's population is not real, just using them to drive away European colonists. Instead of letting them establish a country, they incorporated the whole Malay archipelago into Japanese territory in 1943. "Big Indonesians" and "Pan-Malaysians" are just Japanese decorations and have no real power.

It was not until the defeat that Japan began to prepare for the independence of the Malay archipelago. On the third day after Japan's unconditional surrender, 1945, 17 August, Suharno, the great Indonesian and leader of the Indonesian independence movement, declared Indonesia's independence before the Europeans came back.

This hastily established Indonesia claimed to include the entire Malay archipelago and Malay Peninsula, so it was opposed by Britain and the Netherlands. The British army quickly occupied the former British Malay colony, and the Dutch army launched a military crackdown on the Indonesian independence movement. The brutal Indonesian war of independence lasted for four years. Indonesians fought bloody battles and finally won independence in June 1949+0 1, and Su Jianuo became the first president.

▲ The four-year Indonesian war of independence was very tragic, and the death toll was estimated to be more than 654.38+10,000.

After World War II, Britain was ready to give up all its colonies. First, in 1948, they integrated the colonies on the Malay Peninsula into a "United States of Malaya" and promised to establish their own country in the future. Singapore, Brunei and North Kalimantan have not joined the country for the time being, but they have also gained greater autonomy.

This move has played a very important role in stabilizing Malays. Without the support of "pan-Malayism", Malays gained tangible benefits, so they gave up armed struggle and stopped helping Indonesia to become independent. 1In August 1957, the United Nations in Malaya declared its independence and prepared to negotiate with Singapore, Brunei and North Kalimantan to establish the Malay State. This plan was strongly opposed by Indonesian President Su Jianuo.

Fourth, the failure of Greater Indonesianism.

Su Jianuo pursues "Greater Indonesianism" and has been waiting for an opportunity to merge with the British colony and become a Malay country. However, the "pan-Malayism" in the British colonies has declined, and the tendency to establish a country independently has become more and more obvious, and there is no intention to merge with Indonesia.

For the sake of balance strategy, the British naturally don't want a unified Malay nation-state in Southeast Asia. Allowing Malay colony independence is both a compromise and a prerequisite, that is, it cannot be merged with Indonesia.

▲ Su Jianuo, the first Indonesian president, pursued Greater Indonesianism and opposed Malaysian independence.

Malays also lack interest in merging with Indonesia. At that time, the population of Indonesia had reached 85 million, and the population of Malay colony was less than one tenth. After the merger, Indonesia will undoubtedly occupy a dominant position in the new government, and the position of Malays will be weakened. Moreover, the Malay colony is much richer than Indonesia, and the merger will definitely be dragged down. These are the main reasons for not supporting "pan-Malayism".

196 1 year later, the unified Malayan country proposed to establish a "Malaysia" country and began negotiations with Singapore, Brunei and North Kalimantan. Indonesian President Su Jianuo publicly expressed his opposition, believing that this was a British conspiracy, and once again demanded that the British Malay colony be incorporated into Indonesia.

▲ The national emblem of Malaysia consists of the national flag and the state flags of 13 states, symbolizing the unity of all continents.

Although Brunei did not join, Malaysia was founded in September 1963, and Singapore and North Kalimantan became part of Malaysia. At the same time, Indonesia's actions against Malaysia's independence also rose to an armed conflict.

Although Indonesia and Malaysia did not declare war, the fighting was fierce, mainly on Kalimantan Island, and each country occupied a part of the island, thus becoming Indonesia's primary goal. Indonesians also launched attacks in Singapore and other places, and the situation was once very tense.

1964 12. In order to oppose Malaysia's entry into the United Nations, Indonesia angrily withdrew from the United Nations in protest. It was the only country that withdrew from the United Nations. Moreover, Su Jianuo also proposed that countries oppressed by the West should re-establish a "new United Nations" to counter this Western-led United Nations. But not many countries responded.

Seeing that the conflict was getting worse, Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand sent troops to support Malaysia, forcing Indonesia to stop its military operation in March 1966. President Su Jianuo was also forced to step down and was replaced by Suharto, which marked the failure of "Greater Indonesianism".

It was not until 1975 that the Indonesian government returned to the United Nations and established diplomatic relations with Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Singapore became independent from Malaysia in 1965, while Brunei was still protected by Britain. Indonesia seems to have accepted this reality.

▲ East Timor is a Portuguese colony located in the southern part of the Malay Archipelago.

However, "Greater Indonesianism" has not completely disappeared from Indonesian politics and people. Similarly, 1975, 1 1 In June, the Portuguese colony East Timor declared its independence, and Indonesia quickly sent troops to occupy East Timor and declared it a province of its own.

Although East Timor and Indonesia belong to the same nation and have political factions that advocate integration with Indonesia, after hundreds of years of colonial rule, East Timorese have converted to Catholicism and have a strong desire for independence. East Timor's armed struggle for independence continued until 1999, which caused a huge humanitarian disaster. Finally, under the mediation of the United Nations, East Timor became independent for the second time in 2002.

▲ East Timor is extremely determined to pay hundreds of thousands of casualties for independence.

Facts have proved that "Greater Indonesianism" is unpopular with neighboring countries, and there are more than 200 sub-ethnic groups that evolved from ancient Malays. Indonesia itself is a country forcibly integrated by Dutch colonists, and the Javanese, the main ethnic group, only accounts for 45% of the total population, so it is still difficult to integrate all ethnic groups in China. There are still many separatist forces in Indonesia, not to mention the integration of other countries and ethnic groups.

Even so, Indonesia is still the largest country in Southeast Asia, ranking first in terms of population (270 million) and land area. In addition, Indonesia is one of the most important countries in ASEAN, because it connects the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and its sea area is extremely vast and its strategic position is very important.

▲ Many people in Indonesia work in Malaysia, which is one of Indonesia's major foreign exchange earnings.

At present, "Greater Indonesianism" has lost its market in China and can't get the support of various political factions. Although there are still some territorial disputes between Indonesia and Malaysia, the diplomatic relations between the two sides are still normal. A large number of Indonesians are willing to work in richer Singapore and Malaysia, which has greatly promoted their economic development and cultural exchanges.

▲ A map of "Malay World" is displayed in the National Museum of Indonesia.