When Singaporeans think of their pre-19th century history, do they look at local Malay history, British imperial history, or Chinese history?

I would look back and relate more to our British imperial history more than anything else. Our British colonial masters has contributed greatly in establishing Singapore as a regional trade hub, and contributed greatly to Singapore's success. So when we think about the kind of comfort that Singaporeans are enjoying now, we would more or less be reminded of our british colonial past. We even have a statue of the Sir Stanford Raffles at the Singapore river - currently home to many commerce and financial buildings

We do have a rich pre-colonial history however our lesson plans seem to concentrate on history from 1819 onwards. What is amiss from our history books are details from: When were part of the Federated States of Malaya When we were Temasek, a fishing village part of the Malay Archipelago. How our history is interlinked to that of India (Sri Vijaya and Majapahit empire, Thailand (Ayudya), China and subsequently Portuguese empire How Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam shaped the economy and politics of our region.

To the average Singaporean, the history of Singapore often starts in 1819 with the founding of the Straits Settlement by Sir Stamford Raffles. As such, I would argue that our history as a colony of Britain is the first thing any one would think of.

As a Singaporean, looking at pre-19th century history of Singapore, we have to examine the multitude of empires and wars that were fought on the Malaysian Archipelago all the way up to the Khmer Empire in Cambodia. It is only after understanding the people of that time, their migratory and aggression patterns will we get a better picture of where Singapore falls in the grand game of Kings and Emperors back then. There is also a need to examine the trade that went through these islands and the impact of Western and Middle Eastern influence as their traders came to call at our shores. Those are the influences that would have most impacted the region and ultimately Singapore at that point. But as a people I would say that each individual is different tracing his roots to parts of Malaysia, Indonesia (or before the formation of Indonesia there would be island identification of Javanese, Sumatran, and so on), China, India and later on Sri Lanka. So Singapore's history is not just the history of the island and the region in which it is located, but Singapore's history is also drawn from the history that were carried on the backs of coolies, traders and prisoners that ultimately formed the majority of Singaporean ancestry upon independence.

One could ask exactly the same thing of America, where we are also aware of indigenous, imperial, and immigrant influences.