Political History of Singapore: A Brief Timeline 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles, agent of the East India Company, signs

accord permitting the British to set up a trading post in Singapore 1922 Singapore becomes the main British naval base in East Asia. 1942 Japanese forces occupy Singapore 1945 Japan surrenders; British resume rule over Singapore 1963 July 9 - The Malaysia Agreement is signed between leaders of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak; on August 31, Lee Kuan Yew declares Independence for Singapore. 1965 Singapore becomes independent after separating from Malaysia. 1968 April - The PAP wins all seats in the 1968 General Election, which is boycotted by Barisan Sosialis. 1969 May 31 - Race Riots break out after growing tension from Malaysia spills over to Singapore 1976 General Election, the PAP wins all 69 seats 1979 Singapore becomes the world's second busiest port in terms of shipping tonnage 1980 General Election: the PAP wins all 75 seats 1981 Workers' Party of Singapore's Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam elected into Parliament, breaking a 16 years PAP monopoly of the House. 1984 PAP wins General Election; two members of the opposition parties are elected as members of parliament. Three PAP women MPs are also elected, ending a 16 years absence of women representation in Parliament. 1988 The PAP wins General Election; group representation constituencies (GRC)s are introduced 1993 Ong Teng Cheong becomes the first directly-elected President. 2001 General Election: the PAP wins 82 of 84 seats 2006 General Election: PAP, led by Lee Hsien Loong, wins 82 of 84 seats