The Impact of Expelling the Indigenous Population

Once the work of each department had been more or less arranged, Prime Minister Roger finally stepped forward and spoke with a slightly solemn expression about the greatest problem currently facing the government.

"Your Majesty, after we expelled large numbers of indigenous people from Java and Sumatra, rubber production in Southeast Asia suffered a tremendous blow. It is even showing signs of developing into a worldwide rubber crisis," Prime Minister Roger said.

The Dutch-controlled Dutch East Indies was one of the most important regions for natural rubber production, contributing nearly one-third of Southeast Asia's rubber output.

Even on a global scale, the Dutch East Indies still accounted for more than one-fifth of the world's rubber production. That was already an astonishing figure.

After the mass expulsion of the indigenous population, rubber production on Java and Sumatra was already short of manpower. Surely they could not rely on the remaining Dutch people and small number of indigenous inhabitants on the two islands to cultivate rubber.

Leaving aside whether those people were willing to do it, harvesting rubber required a certain degree of skill. Sending people who did not understand the work would only create chaos.

Southeast Asia's rubber crisis had already begun during the colonial rebellion in the Dutch East Indies, and by now, there were still no signs of it stopping.

There were two most important reasons. First, Australasia was still continuously expelling indigenous people, leaving rubber production on Java and Sumatra desperately short of workers.

The second reason was that rubber plantations in other regions could not expand rapidly either. The rubber output lost by Java and Sumatra could not possibly be replaced by other regions in the short term.

Rubber prices had remained high ever since the product first came into existence, and rubber cultivation had always been