Singapore
Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post of the British East India Company. After the company's collapse in 1858, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce.
Japan–Singapore relations
Japan and Singapore had little interaction for decades following the occupation. In 1959, a request for reparations was submitted to the Japanese government, but Japan refused them on the grounds that Singapore was still a crown colony of Britain, and they had already paid reparations to Britain in 1951. Singapore existed as a crown colony of the United Kingdom until 1963, during which they merged to become a state of Malaysia. However, following major political disagreements and racial disputes, the Malaysian government unanimously voted to expel Singapore from the union, resulting in Singapore's complete independence on August 9, 1965.