Singapore is a country with 42% of its population foreign born. Singaporeans, even those of the same ethnic group  , have many different first languages and cultures. For example,  within the Singaporean Chinese group, nearly a third speak English as their home language while almost half speak Standard Chinese as their home language and the rest speak various Chinese dialects   as their home language. Due to these reasons, the English fluency level of people in Singapore varies vastly from person to person. Most reasonably educated Singaporeans do speak Singapore Standard English, alternatively known as Educated Singapore English, which, grammatically, is not different from standard British English, with changes being limited to accent and a few borrowed words, causing few challenges to any native Britons.  Singapore English derives   its roots from the 146 years of British colonial rule over Singapore until its independence in 1965. Before 1965, the standard form of English in Singapore had always been British English. After Singapore declared independence, English in Singapore began to take a life of its own, leading to the development of modern Singapore English. English had been the official language of the colonial government, and when Singapore gained self-government in 1959, the local government decided to keep English as the main language in order to help develop economy. The use of English as the nation's first language serves to bridge the gap between different ethnic groups in Singapore. English is the global language for commerce, technology and science, and improvement of English also helps to expedite Singapore's development and it becomes important part of the global economy. There is an increasing trend of Singaporeans speaking English at home. For children who started primary school in 2009, 60% of Chinese along with 60% Indian pupils and 35% of Malay pupils mainly speak English at home. Because many Singaporeans grew up with English as their first language in school, some Singaporean Chinese may not be able to speak Standard Chinese. According to the text, when did the British begin to rule Singapore?
In 146 In 1819 In 1959 In 1965.