Chapter 617 Interview
There is a lounge outside the conference hall. When Fan Wubing walked over, he saw several rows of high sofas with coffee tables in the middle. The environment was warm and it felt like a tea bar.
After he sat down, a waiter came over and asked him if he needed anything.
Fan Wubing asked and found out that this place was dedicated to providing various ancillary services for the participants, so he asked, "So, what kind of entertainment activities do you have here?"
"The latest periodicals and magazines are quite complete, and there are tea, coffee, and fresh milk for drinks." The waiter didn't know Fan Wubing, but seeing that he was so young and had just walked out of the hall, he thought in his heart that this person was probably the son of someone's boss. He didn't expect that he was Fan Wubing, the boss of the world-famous Fan Investment Group.
"Then have a cup of green tea, and then bring me a few financial magazines." Fan Wubing said after thinking for a while.
"Okay." The waiter agreed and turned away.
In a few minutes, the waiter brought Fan Wubing freshly brewed green tea and five or six new financial magazines in Shanghai. In addition, he also brought him a hardcover notebook and a pen, which were prepared for his needs to record.
"Thank you." Fan Wubing was quite satisfied with the service attitude here. It was much easier to stay here than to go back and listen to those experts who didn't distinguish between politics, business and academia.
"You're welcome. Please tell us if you need anything." The waiter smiled slightly, then turned and left.
Fan Wubing nodded, and then drank tea while flipping through the magazines. Recently, domestic and international news mainly revolved around the two main topics of Southeast Asian economic recovery and the US Internet economy.
It has been more than half a year since the riots in Indonesia. With the financial assistance of Fan Wubing, the Habibie government has made great efforts in economic development to clean up the mess left by Suharto.
Economically, Indonesia's inflation increased by nearly 50% in the first half of this year, an increase of about 60% compared with the same period last year. Indonesia had experienced great changes in the months before the riots. First, it encountered a severe drought, which caused crop failures, and then was hit by the financial storm that swept across Asia. The rupiah depreciated by 70%, and the government cut subsidies for necessities, which led to soaring prices and general difficulties in people's lives, causing social unrest.
Politically, Suharto's 32-year rule had long caused dissatisfaction among the people. In the context of a severe economic recession, this dissatisfaction broke out. At the same time, domestic anti-Suharto forces also added fuel to the flames, using the power of the people to achieve the goal of overthrowing Suharto.
As the basis of Suharto's rule, the army, which had always been loyal to him, also split.
Internationally, the United States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) put pressure on the Indonesian government, requiring Indonesia to carry out economic reforms in accordance with their proposed plans in exchange for providing economic assistance and loans, which led to soaring electricity and oil prices in Indonesia. At the same time, the Southeast Asian financial crisis broke out, and under its influence, the situation in Indonesia, which was at the center of the storm, was particularly severe.
These direct causes led to the government raising the prices of electricity, transportation, fuel, etc., which led to social unrest. The military and police shot and killed students and civilians, which eventually led to the escalation of the riots.
However, under the intervention of Fan Wubing, the ** riots were finally limited to a controllable range. Habibie, who was supposed to be a transitional president, also eased relations with China at this time and received further support from Fan Wubing's 50 billion US dollars in aid funds, which defeated the conspiracy of the United States and the International Monetary Fund and ensured economic independence.
Under the influence of Fan Wubing and the general sympathy and strong pressure of international public opinion, Habibie, who succeeded Suharto as the President of Indonesia, realized the mistakes of his predecessor and took a more progressive attitude on the issue of Chinese. He not only personally went to the Chinese settlements in Jakarta to inspect the people's conditions, but also formally stated on behalf of the Indonesian government and the people of the country to condemn the incidents of harming Chinese and ** women in some areas during the riots as the most inhumane incidents in Indonesian history, and promised to conduct a strict investigation, bring the thugs and murderers to justice, and ensure that such incidents will not happen again.
The Habibie government also stated that it would treat all Indonesians, including the Chinese, equally, and ordered to stop stamping special notes on Chinese identity cards, and abolish special administrative controls and some discriminatory laws against the Chinese.
After Habibie successfully eliminated the opposition forces and pro-Suharto forces within the military and formed a new government, Indonesia began the process of decentralization and took a series of measures to ease the situation and improve the situation of the Chinese. For example, he joined the United Nations Convention on the Abolition of Racial Discrimination, abolished measures that discriminated against the Chinese, legislated to protect the Chinese, allowed the Chinese to enjoy the same freedom of belief, association, parade, and demonstration as other citizens, allowed the Chinese to display their own culture, use Chinese and Chinese, restored Chinese publications, Chinese education and Chinese schools, incorporated Chinese education into the mainstream of national education, listed Chinese as a second language along with English and Japanese, designated universities to open advanced Chinese classes, and opened all positions in the country's administrative, judicial, procuratorial, and educational institutions to the Chinese, recognized Confucianism as a legal religion, and allowed the Chinese to freely hold religious beliefs or folk activities.
According to some topics Habibie mentioned to Fan Wubing recently, he also promised that this year he will attend the Spring Festival celebrations and Lantern Festival galas held by Indonesian Chinese together with some senior officials of the Indonesian government.
Among the magazines provided by the organizer of the conference, Fan Wubing was surprised to find that there was "Oriental News Interview" which he had never heard of. Moreover, this magazine was also the only one that mentioned the topic directly. A magazine about the Indonesian riots and the Southeast Asian financial crisis. Some of its views and arguments are quite pertinent and novel.
"Is Mr. Fan also paying attention to our magazine?" Someone's voice interrupted Fan Wubing's thinking.
Fan Wubing looked up and found that the beautiful reporter he had met before entering the venue, Sheng Wei, a reporter from "Oriental News Interview", was standing beside him and behind him, smiling. He looked at himself and the "Oriental News Interview" magazine in his hand calmly.
Turning her head in his direction, she saw Sheng Wei's full breasts, of course, through her clothes.
Sheng Wei was probably not used to being viewed from this angle, so she hugged her handbag to her chest and looked at Fan Wubing, as if waiting for his answer.
Fan Wubing also felt that it was a bit indecent to look at someone like this, so he stood up, closed the magazine, and stood face to face with Sheng Wei. He asked curiously, "Why did Miss Sheng sneak in all of a sudden? Didn’t you just stay outside before?”
Sheng smiled and then replied, "Our boss spent a lot of effort and finally obtained a license for in-depth interviews before the summit ended. Now our magazine has the same treatment as other mainstream media. Otherwise, It’s impossible to see Mr. Fan here.”
"Congratulations to you. Well, your magazine did well." Fan Wubing nodded.
To be fair, the magazine "Oriental News Interview" is still doing well. The most attractive thing to Fan Wubing is that they are bold and have indeed maintained their own style in terms of independent news. After all, domestic news media have remained silent on the unrest in Indonesia, and few dare to report it positively.
Sheng Wei said, "Thank you, Mr. Fan, for your support. I just saw you reading reports about Indonesia. Why don't you first talk about your views on Indonesia's anti-Chinese issue?"
"Did I agree to be interviewed?" Fan Wubing asked with a smile.
"At least you didn't object." Sheng said with a smile.
Fan Wubing laughed, and then said, "Actually, I don't really want to talk about this issue, but since there aren't many domestic media reporting on it, and your magazine has been tracking and reporting on the progress in this area, I might as well say it casually. A few words.”
"All ears." Sheng Wei took out the recorder, then took out the notebook, and placed it on the table very seriously. He also sat down and looked at Fan Wubing with all his attention.
"Your gesture is really a bit too formal." Fan Wubing said after looking at it. "It makes me feel a little uncomfortable, as if I was at a press conference of the State Council."
Fan Wubing casually waved and immediately called a waiter over and asked him to get Sheng Wei a cup of tea. Then he said to Sheng Wei, "The root cause of the Indonesian anti-Chinese incident is nothing more than two points. One is economics, the other is religion, and other reasons are all dependent on these two reasons.”
"Can you be more specific?" Sheng Wei raised his head and asked while typing on the keyboard on his laptop.
The difference in economic income is an important factor in triggering the wave of anti-Chinese anti-Chinese sentiments in Indonesia. In Indonesia, the gap between the rich and the poor is very wide. Most Indonesian people did not escape poverty after the country's independence. Instead, their lives became increasingly difficult, forming a large and huge poor class, which became a potential threat to social unrest in Indonesia.
Like the local ethnic groups, most of the Chinese in Indonesia are working people and are also in the middle and lower classes of Indonesian society. However, the Chinese use their special business talents and hard work, coupled with historical, professional and other factors, to It has achieved relatively outstanding achievements in industry and commerce, forming a Chinese industrial and commercial group with obvious advantages in economic life.
"Overall, the living standards of Chinese families are also significantly higher than the living standards of local families. In particular, some big Chinese entrepreneurs have very close relationships with the top figures in the Indonesian government, and they use this close relationship to cooperate with government and business and share benefits. As a result, they have become a nouveau riche and live a luxurious life, which is very eye-catching,” said Fan Wubing. “Therefore, there is a widespread impression in Indonesian society that the Chinese are rich and control the Indonesian economy and wealth, and exploit the local people. The poverty of the local people is caused by the exploitation of the Chinese. Naturally, Indonesian nationalists cannot tolerate this phenomenon, and some interest groups in the Indonesian ruling class that fail to share the benefits from the Chinese economy are also resentful. Coupled with the loud noise and exaggeration by politicians and propaganda tools, when the political situation is slightly turbulent, the dissatisfaction and anger of the poor people over the inequality of wealth will erupt like a volcano, and the Chinese who have different economic incomes from them will Will be hit first."
Sheng Wei recorded it very carefully and also asked a question, "Mr. Fan, you just said that religious issues are also the main reason for the hatred of Chinese in Indonesian society. How did you come to this conclusion?"
Fan Wubing nodded and replied, "The religious beliefs of Chinese Indonesians are very complex. Various religions such as Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam all have a large number of believers among Chinese Indonesians. At the same time, Chinese Indonesians also worship their ancestors. Chinese groups from different regions, speaking different dialects, working in different industries, and having different surnames each believe in special gods, such as Hakka people believe in Dabogong, Minnan people believe in Mazu, Hainanese people believe in Tianhou Niangniang, and carpenters respect Lu Ban Zushi. Although Indonesia is also a country with diverse religions, Islam has an absolute advantage in Indonesian society. After Indonesia's independence, With the support and encouragement of the government, the influence of Islam in Indonesian society has expanded rapidly and has become the dominant religion. Islam is a highly exclusive religion. The core of its doctrine is that one can only believe in Allah. There is no other god except Allah. The more devout and conservative Muslims are, the more limited their tolerance for other religious cultures, and naturally they cannot live in peace with the many gods believed in by the Chinese. Therefore, religious differences and conflicts often become an extremely sensitive potential factor that induces anti-Chinese riots in Indonesian society. "
Sheng Wei asked Fan Wubing a lot of questions, from the Southeast Asian financial crisis to the Internet economy, from the domestic real estate new policy to the downturn in the stock market, and talked about it for more than an hour. When Sheng Wei felt that his fingers were a little tired from typing, he stopped.
"Can I ask you another question?" Sheng Wei asked.
"The last one, I can't say it anymore, otherwise my personal identity will be exposed." Fan Wubing replied.
"Can you talk about what you think of Chinese football?" Sheng Wei asked.
Fan Wubing's face changed, and then he waved his hand and refused, "I think you should ask me a personal question. I really have nothing to say about Chinese football."