History of Singapore

Japanese occupation, World War II, 1942 - 1945

• "... the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". - Winston Churchill referring to the surrender of the British forces by General Arthur Ernest Percival to General Tomoyuki Yamashita's Japanese Imperial Army on 15 February 1942 in Singapore, which marked the beginning of three and a half years of Japanese Occupation of Singapore

Independence, 9 August 1965

• "Whereas it is the inalienable right of a people to be free and independent, I, Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore, do hereby proclaim and declare on behalf of the people and the government of Singapore that as from today, the ninth day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty-five, Singapore shall be forever a sovereign, democratic and independent nation, founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of her people in a more just and equal society." - Lee Kuan Yew, 9 August 1965, 10am, radio broadcast.
• "For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I believed in merger and unity of the two territories." - Lee Kuan Yew, 9 August 1965, press conference at about noon, which was later broadcast in the evening.
• "Singapore shall cease to be a state of Malaysia and shall forever be an independent and sovereign state and nation separate from and independent of Malaysia, and that the government of Malaysia recognises the government of Singapore as an independent and sovereign government of Singapore and will always work in friendship and cooperation with it." - Tunku Abdul Rahman, 9 August 1965, proclamation of Singapore separation from Malaysia.
• "In the end we find that there are only two courses open to us: to take repressive measures against the Singapore government or their leaders for the behaviour of some of their leaders, and the course of action we are taking now, to sever with the state government of Singapore that has ceased to give a measure of loyalty to the central government." - Tunku Abdul Rahman, 9 August 1965, explained to parliament in Kuala Lumpur on Singapore separation from Malaysia, in the first reading of a resolution to pass the Constitution of Malaysia (Singapore Amendment) Bill, 1965.