Singapore was mainly inhabited by Malays in the early days, and its earliest documented records originated from China in the 13th century.
In the 14th century, the Ming Dynasty called Singapore "Temasek" (Javanese: Temasek).
On January 29, 1819, Stanford Raffles, an employee of the British East India Company, landed in Singapore and began to administer the area. In 1824, Singapore officially became a British colony and was initially under the jurisdiction of the British colonial authorities in India. In 1867, Singapore was upgraded to the Straits Settlements, a jurisdiction alongside Penang and Malacca, and directly under British rule.
On February 15, 1942 (during the Pacific War), Japan occupied Singapore and renamed it "Sho Nam Island" and administratively called it "Sho Nam Special City", where the word "Sho Nam" was taken from From the article "Southern Land Acquired during the Showa Period", it also means "Light of the South" and "Emperor Showa's Territory in Nanyang". On September 12, 1945, the Japanese army announced their surrender, and the British re-administered Singapore and restored its name to "Singapore". In 1959, Singapore achieved autonomous status. In 1963, Singapore, together with the then Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo (now Sabah) formed the Federation of Malaysia, thus completely breaking away from British rule.
During his stay in Malaysia, Lee Kuan Yew had disagreements with the then Malaysian federal government over the distribution of racial rights. Lee Kuan Yew advocated replacing the "Bumiputera First" policy of protecting indigenous peoples with a "Malaysian Malaysia" approach to ethnic equality. The political rivalry between the People's Action Party and Umno triggered race riots in Singapore twice in July and September 1964. Finally, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman asked Singapore to withdraw from Malaysia on August 7, 1965, on the pretext of preventing the situation from worsening. Therefore, on August 9, the ruling coalition headed by UMNO passed an emergency constitutional amendment in Parliament to dissolve the country. Singapore's relationship with Malaysia makes it an independent and sovereign country.