 is the story of the Pacific and its people, of the peaceful sea and the lands and lives it touches, and their meaning to us and to the generations to come. The Pacific Story, presented by the National Broadcasting Company as a public service and dedicated to a fuller understanding of the vast Pacific Basin. This broadcast series comes for you as another feature of the NBC Inter-American University of the Air with the drama of the sowing of the seeds that ripened into the war in the Pacific. Monsoon Asia, adventurers and international rivalries. For a thousand years and more, men have been fighting for the riches of Monsoon Asia, of Burma, Thailand, Indochina, Malaya, the East Indies, the Philippines. From the north came wave after wave of Mongoloids. From the west came Indians and Arabs. From the region that is now Yunnan province in South China came the Malays. Race fought against race, clan against clan. Into this struggle for mastery came the white man, and with him came rivalry for empire, white man against white man, until the Japanese moved in and seized all of Monsoon Asia for themselves. First of the Europeans were the Portuguese. Next came the Dutch. We have to ask quickly to who's Monsoon. Yeah, they've only been here in the Malakas for five years, and already we have to defend our trade. What does this new British trading company call itself, Anderson? It is called the British East India Company. British East India Company. They must be after the spice trade of the Malakas, more than that. When we made our first voyage out here to the Indies in 1595, only the Portuguese were here, but the British had been watching this trade for many years. They took no interest in it, no active interest, until we came out here. Their interest probably has been greater than we had supposed. They know about flourishing trading bases here. We can expect to see British merchant any time. This means that we will have not only the Portuguese and the Spanish against us, but also the British. It's the spice trade they are after. They must hold on to our bases here at all costs. If we do not, we shall be driven from the Indies. Yeah, it's the British trading company. It is a private enterprise. Yeah, and a very strong one. Then they must organize a stronger one, Van der Tee. Stronger? They must organize a trading company under the auspices of the government of the Netherlands. We must have the government behind us. Then they shall be at the mercy of politicians, but with the government, they shall be stronger than the British company. With our private capital, we cannot compete against the British, but with the government behind us, we shall be strong enough to... In 1600 too, two years after the organization of the British East India Company, the Dutch organized the Netherlands East India Company, and then was begun the race for supremacy. The English merchant men hold up over the horizon. Now the scramble was between the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch, and the British. What is most important to you, de Houtman, and of course to us, is that the Spanish and the Portuguese virtually have a monopoly over the sparse trade in the Malacca. We have bases in the Moscow, but the trade is controlled by the Spanish and the Portuguese, just the same. But, uh, what do the British propose? Cooperation on some sort of basis? Against the Spanish and the Portuguese? We are individual companies. Our British East India Company and your Netherlands East India Company. We, as individual companies, cannot hope to prevail against the combined Spanish and Portuguese. Yeah, it's true that competition does limit all of us. We propose cooperation between you with the Dutch company and us as the British company. Could, uh, could such an arrangement be feasible? Would it not be feasible? We could work out a plan of cooperation which would, in effect, also... For practical purposes, rivalry between the British and the Dutch was set aside. Gradually the Dutch won out against the Portuguese and the Spanish in the Spice Islands. Now the principal adversary was out of the way and now once again the Dutch and the British were rivals. In 1623 at Amborn... But for what the Dutch put you and me in jail? There's no explanation for it, itoggy. Except that I am a British trader and you are my Japanese servant. But what we do? We've been buying and trading against them. All ten of us British traders. Too many Dutchmen here. The Dutch have three times the English strength in ships. How wrong they keep us in jail. What they do with us? I don't know, itoggy. I don't know. George is coming. He's through windows? Let me see. Yes. Let us out of jail, maybe? Probably not, itoggy. Let out other Englishmen and servants? Probably not. They arrested all ten of us for the same reason. Whatever that is. George is coming close. Coming for us, maybe. It's quiet, itoggy. I'm sorry I didn't see him. Welcome with us. Where are the soldiers going to take us? Just be calm. Say nothing to them. It'll be all right. I'll take your position here, between a squad. Right here. Ah, that'll do. Why are you taking us? What? Marks. Outside the jail in Ambon, the ten traders and their servants were lined up. Here was to be enacted a black page in the struggle of the whites for the Indies. The Dutch were now entrenched in the Indies, and the British gradually withdrew to India from them. Now Holland dominated the island's east of Sumatra. In 1638, she reached westward to Ceylon. And in 1641, she is Malacca from Portugal, and gained command of the states of Malacca. The doorway to the Indies. Behind this expansion, still greater projects were planned. If Holland is to emerge as a power, we must recognize that we have arrived at the critical stage of development. We are stronger now than ever before. In commercial bases, you mean, of course? Yeah. Our bases now ring the eastern seas. We have governments at Ambon, Tarnating, Java, Banda, Macassan, Malacca, Ceylon, and Good Hope. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My report. Let me find the page here. Ah, it says, at the close of last year, 1669, the Netherlands East India Company paid 40% on its capital. The company maintained 150 trading ships, 40 ships of war, and 10,000 soldiers. Oh, you see, gentlemen, we are solvent and strong. But that is not enough. Conditions are changing. Until a few years ago, the Malaccan spice trade was our best-important trade to the Indies. It is still important. Ah, but there are still greater possibilities in Java and Sumatra. They have held these islands and have overlooked that they are remarkably suited to plantation cultivation. And then we can grow many products for the rest of the market. Coffee, indigo, pepper, are we to forego the value of the spice island by no means. But by comparison, with the development possible on Java and Sumatra, the spice trade will become less and less important. Perhaps that is a possibility. It is my recommendation that we look into the possibilities of plantations on Java and Sumatra. We can hardly realize the extent of it. Here was marked the start of a large-scale conservation of tea, rubber, sugar, palm oil, quinine. The fabulous wealth of the Indies was increased still more, and the vast island empire stretching across 3,000 miles of sea was securely won by the little kingdom of the Netherlands. Meantime, foreigners were making incursions into other parts of Monsoon Asia. In 1659, an extraordinary figure arrived in the capital of Siam. And within the next several years rose to spectacular influence. Your gentleman represents the French-Eastier Company. Yes, Marie-Doul. That Chief Minister will see you in just a few minutes. Thank you very much. I will call you. Wait here. Yes, thank you, thank you. I am eager to see the Chief Minister. He's not a nature. I am. Yes, I have been called. He is Greek. He came from Saperlona, one of the islands of Greece. An Inkeeper's son. An Inkeeper's son. Become the Chief Minister of the King of Siam. He ran away in an English ship, and now he is the most trusted advisor of the King Franarais. What is his name? His name is Constantin Paul Caron. Paul Caron. And he is the man we must deal with. Unfortunately for us, he thinks highly of the French-Eastier Company. Yeah, he must be very sure he is. Under him, Siam has prospered. He and the King operate a fleet of merchantmen. And the King is the biggest trader in the country here. Then he understands our mission here, as well as we do. Tony, he comes later. That Chief Minister, I will see you now. Thank you. Come along this way. We are, of course, interested in the development of Western Enterprise here in Siam. Ah, thank you, Your Excellency. The Portuguese and the Dutch, as you know, have been established in Siam for some years. Yes, we are aware of that. We have discussed the project, Your Excellency, East India Company proposed. We believe, Excellency, such a project would be mutually advantageous. Yes, it would mean much to your country to have a French factory in Siam, especially it would mean development. We have considered it carefully. King Franarais has given his consent. You will therefore proceed to set up your factory, not outside the city, but here within the capital of Siam. Our engineers will assist you in the planning and building. At this time, three French bishops arrived in Siam. And through them, the Chief Minister, Constantine Falkin, exchanged letters with Colbert, Minister to Louis XIV of France. Soon, Louis' interest in Siam changed from the spiritual to the material. France set a scheme afoot to win supremacy in Siam. From France came six men of war with 1,400 soldiers. On the quarter-deck of the flagship, a member of the French East India Company talks with the officer in command of the troops. And so far as the Siamese are concerned, you and your troops have come here to intimidate the Dutch. You have had trouble with the Dutch? They are a constant source of trouble for us from their fortress at Malacca. I see. And where will my men be garrisoned? Oh, pop of them will be garrisoned at Bangkok and bother them at Milgris. These are the two principal posts. Will any of them be garrisoned in the capital city? Oh, perhaps. We may attach some of the troops to the person of King Franarie, but not now. I understand. Are the missionaries making progress with the king? So far he has resisted all efforts to convert him. Unexpected resistance? Yes. On the letters to the court in France, we understood the king would accept conversion and a military guide without resistance. The missionaries are continuing. Perhaps they will have better fortune now that you and your troops have arrived. It is useless to wait longer. The king is virtually a prisoner of the foreigners. The king is still resisting the efforts of the missionaries. But he is only a figurehead for Constantine Falcon. The chief minister is opposed to all of us of the royal court. Both Falcon and the king have disregarded our objections to the foreigners, and now our two ports are held by the soldiers of the French. Yes, unfortunately, the king every moment of his life. We cannot permit the French soldiers to stop us. The king must go. Falcon must go, and the soldiers must go. Else we shall lose ourselves to the foreigners. I will account for the king. I will account for Constantine Falcon. I will lead our army and drive the foreigners from our land. While the king resisted the missionaries and the chief minister disregarded the high officers of the court, the conspiracy was worked out. And suddenly, it struck. Constantine Falcon has been killed. The foreign troops have been driven from our country. We are free men. The AM had saved itself from domination. In the years to come, it was to be the scene of many more struggles. But as Thailand, the land of free men, it was to remain the only independent station in Monsoon Asia until the coming of the Japanese in 1941. The British had withdrawn to the West, to India, in the face of the decisive measures of the Dutch. But they had not forgotten the Indies, nor had they forgotten the execution of the ten British traitors and their servants of Ambon. They returned and took Malacca from the Dutch. But nearly two centuries were to pass before a vigorous and determined British leader was to appear. Then, at Malacca, appeared Stanford Raffles. Particularly as good we brought from India before the arrival of Lord Minto. You brought a great deal of goods. Oh, yes. We shall have needed them all. Shall we start with this box, Mr. Mellon? Oh, that is well. This is a box of satin cloth. Satin cloth, yes. Oh, that is of great value. A box of woollen cloth. Extraordinary weave, that woollen cloth. Very soft texture. Yes, what's next, Adela? Here is a writing paper with printed flowers of gold and silver. Oh, that is for writing letters to the many princes. What is in this box? What is in this box, Mr. Mellon? It is very heavy. Oh, that box, why... It is so heavy, I cannot hardly move it. Yes, it contains guns and pistols. We brought all these things, of course, merely as gifts. We shall have no use in them ourselves. Raffles stayed at the Banda-Iliac quarter of Malacca on the plantation of Babachang Lang, the Capitaine China. When he was settled and the gifts he had brought were checked, then he met with Lord Minto. That the people of these islands are unable to govern themselves? Quite. The Dutch have exploited the people and have encouraged the Chinese traders who sent all the money they made back to China. What of the Arabs? They are a different sort of menace, Raffles. Under the master of religion, they prey on the unsuspecting people. That must be stopped. It is my opinion that the people would badly ally themselves with so powerful a nation as Britain. Yes, and we would not deprive them of all their natural advantages. That is what the Dutch have done. It is not only the Dutch. You, Lord Minto, will also have to check the inroads of the Americans. They are adventurous and they are enriching themselves without any consideration of the people. Well, our intercourse has been much the same. The British who have come here have not been acquainted with the country or the people. They have been more remarkable for their boldness than for, shall we say, their principle. Oh, but that's all past. And that means form no rule for the future. These Malay states can benefit more from Britain than they can from one another. Is the expedition ready? It will be ready to sail from India in March. Is it completely fitted out? There will be 4,000 European infantry with a suitable proportion of artillery. There will be 4,000 Bengal infantry with about 300 cavalry. That should be adequate. Britain must acquire the states of the Malay Peninsula. Borneo, Samarth and Java, the Celebes, Malakas, New Guinea and the Papuan Islands. And where will the attack be? The attack will be on Java. Of course, we will take over by treaty the states which have indisputable pretensions to independence. This way we will be able to turn these islands to the best advantage for European trade and the general advantage of India. You know, Raffles, that the government is not sympathetic to your efforts to create a new Eastern British Empire. It is not fully understood, Lord Minto. For myself, I am much elated at the prospect of Java and the Eastern Archipelago coming under the British flag. And I should like to congratulate you, sir, on your future administration of this, our first great acquisition since India. The British have defeated another rebellious Sultan. Friendly rules have been set up in the place of the rebellious ones. The British have destroyed all resistance in the Indies. Raffles has been made lieutenant-governor of Java with power over the entire Indies. But the British had more than the native Sultans against them. They had the Dutch. The struggle was bitter, and in the convention of 1814 between Great Britain and the Netherlands, it was decided that the Netherlands recognizes the Mele Peninsula as a British sphere of interest. Great Britain recognizes the Dutch sovereignty over the Netherlands, each Indian. We have surrendered what is destined to become the richest colonial possession in the world. Raffles was heartbroken. As a last gesture, he secured for the British an almost uninhabited island on the site of the ancient city of Singapura. Raffles, above all others, saw its strategic value. The founding of Singapura was to shape the courts of British shipping, commerce, industry, and agriculture from the straits of Malacca to the China Sea. On January 31st, 1819, he wrote to a friend, Dear Marshal, here I am in Singapore. The lines of the old city, the ancient maritime capital of the Malays, are still to be traced, and within its ramparts, the Union Jack weighs unmolested. Singapore has an excellent harbor, and everything that can be desired for a British port. We have command and intercourse with all ships passing through the straits of Singapore. We are within the weak sail of China, close to Siam, and in the very feet of the Malayan Empire. With determination and zeal, Raffles set about making Singapore a bastion of British strength in the Far East. Forests were cleared, roads were cut, towns were built, laws were framed. A powerful unit of western civilization was set up, and Raffles wrote to the Duchess of Somerset, My new colony thrives most rapidly. We have not been established five months, and it has received an expression of population exceeding 5,000, chiefly Chinese, and their number is daily increasing. You may take my word for it. Singapore is by far the most important station in the East, and as far as naval superiority and commercial interests are concerned, Singapore is of much higher value than whole continents of territory. For 50 years, the British carried on trade from Singapore and Malacca and Penang. Then Britain extended her hold, extended her commercial interest to political interest. Malaya became a collection of governance under British rule. The state settlement, the federated Malay state, and the unfederated state. But with the passing years, internal problems arose. The Malay said, No, I will not work in the rubber plantations. Then we'll give you a job in the pin mines. No. Well, why will you not work? I will work my farm. We need you in the rubber plantations in the pin mines. No. Foreign money runs plantations and mines. Nothing for Malay. It is because you won't work in the plantations and mines that we're obliged to bring in workers from other lands. China and India. Foreign workers. Oh, we must have workers. And since you prefer to work on your farm and grow rice, you can then grow enough rice to help feed these workers that we're obliged to bring in. No. Raised rice only for our own family. Chinese and Indian workers flooded into Malaya. The West supplied the capital for the development of the tin mines and the rubber plantations. The East supplied the labor to work them. Malaya became the world's leading source of rubber and tin. And Singapore became the symbol of western empire in the East. The symbol of the rule of a few thousand white men over millions of brown and yellow Asianics. Now the Japanese were on the march in the north. The war in the Pacific was rolling southward. The Japanese had taken baby Shanghai, men came camp on. The Japanese are moving troops into French Indochina. The Japanese are bomb Pearl Harbor. The Japanese have taken Manila. The Japanese have landed in Malaya. And are driving down on Singapore. Bomb me across the estuary. Purge all fire until I get within range. Our artillery hasn't even slowed them down. All right then, let them have it. Here it goes, you! They're bouncing right into the teeth of our fire. We're mowing them down like pigeons and they keep coming. When everyone gets on Singapore, we've got 10. They're coming in small. Look out, they're shelling us. Get down, get down, as long as we've got bullets. Oh, Percival. I want your reprise to be brief unto the point. I will accept only unconditional surrender of Singapore. This is the Japanese commander, General Yamashita. You'll give me until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow? I cannot wait. The Japanese forces will have to attack tonight. I want to hear a decisive answer. And I insist on unconditional surrender. What do you say? Yes. Singapore had fallen. Singapore, the impregnable Gibraltar of the white man's power and prestige in the Far East. Now, Indochina was gone. And British Malaya and the Netherland Indies and Burma. Japan had taken all of Monsoon Asia. The white man reeled and retreated. And from far away London came a hint that the white man had come to realize that another epoch had ended. In the London Economist, the Conservative organ of British financial interests appeared this editorial. There can be no return to the old system once the Japanese have been defeated. The need is for entirely new principles, or rather the consistent application of principles to which lip service has long been paid. For the colonies, Malaya, Indochina, and Netherland Indies, there can be only one goal. The creation of independent nations linked economically, socially, and culturally with the old mother country. But learning to stand firmly upon their own feet. Thousand years may not have been fighting for the riches of Monsoon Asia. Through these bloody centuries, generation after generation of peoples have lived and died. Born in the fast political game. In the years to come, whatever the destiny of these lands, one factor only is certain. The native people will still be there. You have just heard the eighth program of the new series, The Pacific Story. Next week at this same time, over most of these stations, the ninth will be broadcast. India, from Clive to Gandhi. With drama of the past and present, and commentary by Owen Wathamore, authority on the Pacific, and director of the School of International Relations, Johns Hopkins University. You may secure an illuminating handbook of the Pacific Story, with background information on each program in this series, with suggested further readings. This Pacific Story manual will be sent to you for 25 cents in coin to cover cost of printing and mailing. Address the University of California Press, Berkeley, California. This program is written and directed by Arnold Markworth. The musical score is composed and conducted by Charles Zant. Your narrator, Gain Whitman. This program has been presented as a public service, and another feature of the Inter-American University of the Air, by the national broadcasting company, and the independent radio stations, associated with the NBC network. American radio listeners are the best informed people on earth. They are interested in the history, future, and peoples histories, which are now the battle fronts of a war for freedom. 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