The Portuguese Accounts
Almost all Portuguese accounts noted that Parameswara killed the local chief in Singapura and took possession of the island. They also recorded that an external force subsequently ousted Parameswara, though different attackers were suggested. The Portuguese historian João de Barros claimed in 1553 that it was the Siamese who expelled Parameswara; while in 1557, Bras D’Albuquerque, son of Governor of the East Indies Afonso de Albuquerque, suggested that it was the King of Patani who removed Parameswara. Historian Diogo do Couto suggested it was the Javanese, while Portuguese-Bugis explorer Manuel Godinho de Erédia in 1613 wrote that it was the Kingdom of Pahang that attacked Parameswara, forcing him to flee.

The Malay Annals Account
According to the Malay Annals, Sultan Iskandar Shah was the fifth and last magnate of Singapura, and a direct descendant of the founder of Singapura. Historian Dr Peter Linehan noted that there was no mention in the Malay Annals about a usurper who had treacherously murdered the local chief.

Sultan Iskandar Shah lost his kingdom after he listened to court gossip and humiliated one of his favourite concubines by publicly exposing her in the market. Her father, the Chief Minister, took revenge by inviting the Majapahit empire to siege Singapura and tricked the Sultan into eventually opening the gates.

Dr Linehan suggested that perhaps Sultan Iskandar Shah, although of noble stock, was a usurper and not a descendent of the royal Singapura line. Instead, he was the first in a line of Melakan kings, about whom stories were written and told through the centuries. This would come to form the heart of what we know today as the Malay Annals.

The Majapahit Empire
This powerful empire was founded in 1293, around eastern Java. Gajah Mada, leader of the Majapahit empire from 1329 to 1364, swore to conquer a list of places in Nusantara (the maritime region of Southeast Asia that was not the mainland), including Singapura. According to the Nagarakrtagama, an old Javanese manuscript detailing the Majapahit Empire, he succeeded in doing so.

The Ayutthaya Empire
Founded in 1351 by King Ramathibodi I, the Ayutthaya Kingdom became the most powerful kingdom in Indochina, with military capabilities that could reach Singapura. According to historian John Miksic, Ayutthaya may have instigated an attack on Singapura around 1396.