The statement is true.
The modern Singapore was founded in 1819 by the British Thomas Stamford Raffles as a trading post of the British East India Company with the permission of the Sultanate of Johor. The United Kingdom gained sovereignty over the island in 1824 and it became one of the British Strait Colonies in 1826. Occupied by the Japanese during World War II, Singapore declared its independence from the United Kingdom in 1963 as a state of Malaysia through a referendum of incorporation, but separated two years later. Since then Singapore has prospered rapidly and has earned the distinction of being one of the "four Asian tigers".