History Anyone?

I went to the State Museum of Penang today and what an enjoyable experience it was. It was interesting and cheap. Sounds like a good date, doesn't it? I won't go into great details but here is a little history.
Just like the US, historic records seem to date mostly from the time of the British colonization by the same East India Company that sent ships to our colonies. This part of the world was important for the spice trade. In the early 1800's Burma and Thailand signed a treaty with England giving the southern part of the Malay peninsula to England and isolating the north (Thailand and Burma) from English colonization. Chinese and Indians moved in to work for the Brits.
There are many English named streets like Victoria, Dickens, Edward, etc. Things rocked along pretty peacefully until December 7, 1941 ( a familiar date) when Japan invaded Malaysia and took over without any resistance from the locals or the English. I remember seeing a movie about this a while back and I can't remember the name. Does anyone remember it?
In 1956 Malaysia became independent from England and later Singapore split off to become a separate country. English is widely spoken along with Chinese, Hindi and Malay. I copied a quote in the museum which expresses how I feel. "The spell which makes those who have never been wish to go there, those who live there want to stay and fills those who have spent their appointed hour or two there with a longing to return." J.W. Clark, 1952, Illustrated Guide to Georgetown.
Just in case it isn't clear, I like it here. Off by bus tomorrow for Kuala Lumpur---KL to informed travelers. Pick up from hotel at 8:30 in the morning.