War, Independence and the Developmental State (1942–1971)

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• 15 February 1942: Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrenders Singapore to the Japanese army. The courts stop functioning, and the island is renamed Syonan-to.¹
• February 1942: The Sook Ching screenings begin. At Changi Beach 66 civilians are killed on 20 February and at Punggol some 300 to 400 on 23 February.²
• 1942: Japanese military dollar notes enter circulation at par with the Malayan dollar. Possession of pre-war currency becomes a criminal offence. OCBC moves its head office to Bombay for the duration of the war.³
• 12 September 1945: The Japanese surrender to Lord Louis Mountbatten in the Municipal Building. The British Military Administration declares the occupation currency worthless.⁴
• 1 April 1946: The Straits Settlements are dissolved and Singapore becomes a separate Crown colony. The Malayan currency board is reconstituted.⁵
• 1947: The Income Tax Ordinance comes into force, modelled on the Model Colonial Territories Income Tax Ordinance of 1922.⁶
• 20 March 1948: The first election to the Legislative Council takes place. Only about 22,300 voters register. The Malayan Emergency begins in June.⁷
• 1951: King George VI confers city status on Singapore. The Treaty of San Francisco of 8 September waives Allied claims against Japan.⁸
• 1955: The Rendel Constitution introduces a Legislative Assembly and automatic voter registration. David Marshall becomes Chief Minister on 7 April. The Hock Lee bus riots break out in May.⁹
• 1 July 1955: The Central Provident Fund, established by an ordinance passed in late 1953, begins operating as a compulsory savings scheme.¹⁰
• 1 November 1957: The Singapore Citizenship Ordinance creates a local citizenship for the first time.¹¹
• August 1959: The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank acquires the Mercantile Bank.¹²
• 5 June 1959: After the People’s Action Party wins 43 of 51 seats, Lee Kuan Yew is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of self-governing Singapore.¹³
• February 1960: The Housing and Development Board is established. It completes 54,430 flats by 1965.¹⁴
• 4 October 1960: The United Nations mission under Albert Winsemius begins work. Winsemius hands his preliminary report to Lee Kuan Yew on 14 December.¹⁵
• 1961: The Economic Development Board is established with 100 million dollars for 1961 to 1964. Strikes cost some 415,000 man-days in the same year.¹⁶
• 27 May 1961: Tunku Abdul Rahman proposes a closer association of Malaya, Singapore and the British Borneo territories.¹⁷
• 1 September 1962: A referendum on three forms of merger with Malaysia is held. Option A gives Singapore autonomy in labour and education and 15 federal seats.¹⁸
• 2 February 1963: Operation Coldstore detains 113 left-wing leaders.¹⁹
• 9 July 1963: The Malaysia Agreement is signed in London after a final night of negotiation.²⁰
• 16 September 1963: Singapore becomes a state of Malaysia. Indonesia’s Confrontation follows, and Singapore’s trade with Indonesia falls by almost 24 per cent in 1964.²¹
• 1964: GDP contracts by about 3.1 per cent. National Iron and Steel Mills opens the first factory on the Jurong estate. Race riots break out on 21 July and 2 September.²²
• 7 August 1965: The Independence of Singapore Agreement is signed. It guarantees the water agreements of 1961 and 1962 with Johor.²³
• 9 August 1965: Singapore separates from Malaysia and becomes an independent republic. Lee Kuan Yew signs the Proclamation of Singapore.²⁴
• 21 September 1965: Singapore becomes the 117th member of the United Nations. It joins the Commonwealth on 15 October.²⁵
• 1966: Unemployment reaches 70,000 by the end of the year, more than 10 per cent of the labour force. On 17 August the governments of Singapore and Malaysia announce separate currencies.²⁶
• 12 June 1967: The Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore, set up under the Currency Act 1967, issues the first Singapore notes, the Orchid series.²⁷
• 15 December 1967: The Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act comes into operation. The Companies Act 1967 follows on 29 December.²⁸
• November 1967: The devaluation of sterling costs Singapore about 157 million dollars of its reserves.²⁹
• 17 January 1968: Britain announces the withdrawal of its armed forces by 1971.³⁰
• 1968: The Jurong Town Corporation is established on 1 June. The Development Bank of Singapore is incorporated on 16 July and begins operations on 1 September. Keppel Shipyard and Neptune Orient Lines follow in September and December.³¹
• September 1968: The Public Housing Scheme allows CPF members to use their savings to buy HDB flats.³²
• October 1968: The Singapore branch of Bank of America opens the first Asian Currency Unit after the government abolishes withholding tax on non-residents’ deposit interest. The Asian dollar market is born.³³
• 1969: The Supreme Court of Judicature Act re-establishes the Supreme Court of Singapore.³⁴
• 11 August 1970: Hon Sui Sen succeeds Goh Keng Swee as Minister for Finance.³⁵
• 26 December 1970: The Monetary Authority of Singapore Act 1970 comes into operation. The sources diverge on whether Parliament passed it in September or December 1970.³⁶
• 1 January 1971: The Monetary Authority of Singapore begins work, with Hon Sui Sen as its first chairman. It takes over banking supervision, exchange control and the supervision of the offshore market.³⁷
• 1 November 1971: The Five Power Defence Arrangements of Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom come into effect.³⁸

Notes

1. Wikipedia, “Fall of Singapore”; Supreme Court of Singapore, “History of the Courts”; see Chapter C.I. ↩
2. Wikipedia, “Japanese occupation of Singapore” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.I. ↩
3. Wikipedia, “Malayan dollar” and “OCBC Bank”; Huff and Majima, “Financing Japan’s World War II Occupation”; see Chapters B.III and C.I. ↩
4. Wikipedia, “Japanese occupation of Singapore” and “Malayan dollar” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.I. ↩
5. Wikipedia, “Crown Colony of Singapore” and “British Military Administration (Malaya)” (accessed November 2026); see Chapters C.I and C.II. ↩
6. Singapore Journal of Legal Studies [2007] 1–24; see Chapter B.I. ↩
7. Wikipedia, “Crown Colony of Singapore” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
8. Wikipedia, “Crown Colony of Singapore”; Treaty of Peace with Japan, Art. 14(b); see Chapters C.I and C.II. ↩
9. Wikipedia, “Crown Colony of Singapore”, “1955 Singaporean general election” and “Hock Lee bus riots”; see Chapter C.II. ↩
10. Lim Tin Seng, “How the CPF Scheme Came to Be”, BiblioAsia; CPF Board, Save & Sound: 70 Years of CPF; see Chapter D.I. ↩
11. Wikipedia, “Merdeka Talks” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
12. Wikipedia, “Mercantile Bank of India, London and China” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter B.II. ↩
13. Wikipedia, “1959 Singaporean general election” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
14. Wikipedia, “Housing and Development Board” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.III. ↩
15. F. Stoelinga, Albert Winsemius, pp. 188–195; see Chapter C.III. ↩
16. Wikipedia, “Economic Development Board”; Industrial Arbitration Court, “History”; see Chapter C.III. ↩
17. Wikipedia, “Self-governance of Singapore” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
18. Wikipedia, “1962 Singaporean integration referendum” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
19. Wikipedia, “Singapore in Malaysia” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
20. Wikipedia, “Malaysia Agreement” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
21. Wikipedia, “Singapore in Malaysia”; Alvin Tan, “Konfrontasi”, BiblioAsia; see Chapter C.II. ↩
22. Singapore Department of Statistics, Table Builder; SG101, “Jurong: From Swamp to Suburb”; Wikipedia, “Singapore in Malaysia”; see Chapters C.II and C.III. ↩
23. Independence of Singapore Agreement 1965 (Wikisource), Arts VI and VII; see Chapter C.II. ↩
24. Wikipedia, “Singapore in Malaysia”; Republic of Singapore Independence Act 1965, s. 1; see Chapter C.II. ↩
25. Wikipedia, “Singapore in Malaysia” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.II. ↩
26. SG101, “1959–1965: Early Economic Strategies”; GIC, Bold Vision, chapter 2; see Chapters C.II and C.III. ↩
27. Mothership, “50 years ago today”; GIC, Bold Vision, chapter 3; see Chapter C.V. ↩
28. F. Stoelinga, Albert Winsemius, p. 328; Walter Woon, “Reforming Company Law in Singapore”, (2011) 23 SAcLJ 795; see Chapters B.I and C.III. ↩
29. GIC, Bold Vision, chapter 4 (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.V. ↩
30. SG101, “British Military Withdrawal: From Crisis to Catalyst for Growth”; see Chapter C.III. ↩
31. Wikipedia, “JTC Corporation” and “1968 in Singapore” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.III. ↩
32. Benedict S. K. Koh, “Singapore’s Social Security Savings System”; see Chapter D.I. ↩
33. Suresh Ramanathan, “Asian dollar market – the early days”, The Star; Bernauer, “The Asian Dollar Market”, p. 48; see Chapter C.IV. ↩
34. Supreme Court of Singapore, “Celebrating 200 years of upholding the Rule of Law”; see Chapter A.III. ↩
35. Wikipedia, “Goh Keng Swee” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter C.IV. ↩
36. Monetary Authority of Singapore Act 1970; Barbara Quek, “The Making of the Monetary Authority of Singapore”, BiblioAsia; GIC, Bold Vision, chapter 6; see Chapter C.V. ↩
37. Monetary Authority of Singapore, “Our History” (accessed November 2026); see Chapters C.IV and C.V. ↩
38. Wikipedia, “Five Power Defence Arrangements” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter F.IV. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.