Bukit Timah
Encyclopedia
Bukit Timah is an area in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and a hill in that area. Bukit Timah is located near the centre of the Singapore main island. The hill stands at an altitude of 163.63 metres (537 ft.) and is the highest point in the city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...

 of Singapore. The surrounding area is an urban planning area known as Bukit Timah Planning Area under the Urban Redevelopment Authority
Urban Redevelopment Authority
The Urban Redevelopment Authority is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Singapore Government.-Mission:The authority was established on 1 April 1974, and is of especially critical importance to the city-state,...

 and is part of the Central Region
Central Region, Singapore
The Central Region of Singapore is one of the five regions in the city-state. Comprising 13,150 hectares of land area, it includes 11 Planning Areas within the Central Area which is the immediate vicinity of the Singapore's central business district, as well as another 11 more outside it.Although...

, and lies 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the city's central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

, the Central Area
Central Area
In Singapore, the Central Area or Central Business District contains the core financial and commercial districts, including eleven urban planning areas, namely Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South, Museum, Newton, Orchard, Outram, River Valley, Rochor, Singapore River and Straits View as...

. This area is often referred to as Bukit Timah, and is also known as District 11.

Bukit Timah is considered the most expensive district in Singapore. Many high-profile personalities, expatriates and professionals reside in this posh district which houses designer villas, bungalows and high-end condominiums.

Etymology and history of Bukit Timah Hill

Bukit Timah, which literally means "tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

 hill" in Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

, was already identified on the 1828 map by Frankin and Jackson
Philip Jackson (surveyor)
Philip Jackson was a British Royal Navy lieutenant, who laid out the city plan for Singapore in 1822. He was a key person in Raffles plans for the settlement. The Elgin Bridge in Singapore was once named in his honour.-References:...

 as Bukit Timah. The hill was depicted on the map towards the northwest as two hills at the eastern source of the Kranji River.

Since the interior of the island was not fully explored at that time, the location and name of the hill for the map probably came from the Malay
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...

 community. According to one source, Bukit Timah has nothing to do with tin. The original Malay name for the hill was Bukit Temak, meaning "hill of the temak trees", referring to pokok temak, a tree that grew abundantly on the slopes of the hill. However, to the western ear, Temak in Malay enunciation
Enunciation
In phonetics, enunciation is the act of speaking. Good enunciation is the act of speaking clearly and concisely. The opposite of good enunciation is mumbling or slurring. See also pronunciation which is a component of enunciation. Pronunciation is to pronounce sounds of words correctly....

 sounded like Timah, hence Bukit Timah. Some say that timah is an abbreviation of Fatimah, a popular Malay girl's name.

In December 1843, a carriage way
Carriageway
A carriageway consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally...

 road was completed leading up to the hill. A small hut with chairs was constructed for visitors. The hill was viewed then as an "excellent sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

", as the air was "cooler and fresher than the plain, producing an agreeable exhilaration of spirits".

Bukit Timah is known as eyam malai (tin hill) in Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

, being a literal translation of the Malay name. For some, it is synonymous with the Singapore Turf Club
Singapore Turf Club
The Singapore Turf Club was founded in 1842 as the Singapore Sporting Club to operate the Serangoon Road Race Course at Farrer Park.It is today the only horse-racing club in Singapore and is part of the Malayan Racing Association, which also regulates the three Turf Clubs in Malaysia, the Selangor...

, where members and paying visitors flock on race days. This course is closed to the public, unlike the former course (now Farrer Park
Farrer Park
Farrer Park is a historic neighbourhood in the central part of Singapore, located at the end of Little India. Farrer Park is defined by the boundary formed by Dorset Road, Hampshire Road and Northumberland Road.-Etymology:...

) where the general public enjoyed watching the king's sport for free.

The 25-km long Bukit Timah Road
Bukit Timah Road
Bukit Timah Road is a major road in Singapore extending from the city centre to Woodlands Road on the way to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The road has a distance of 25km , which is one of the longest roads in Singapore, and the road takes its name from the hill...

, the longest road in Singapore, running north and south, takes its name from this hill. The road to Kranji
Kranji
Kranji is a suburb in northwestern Singapore, located about from the city centre.-Etymology:Kranji is named after a local tree, the kranji or keranji . Its abundance has rapidly dwindled since the first half of the nineteenth century.-History:The first Singapore-Kranji railway from Tank Road to...

 was completed in 1845. Apparently, the area was so infested with tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

s that it constituted a serious threat to human life. In 1860, nearly 200 people were reported to have been killed by tigers in and about the gambier
Uncaria
Uncaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It has about 40 species. Their distribution is pantropical, with most species native to tropical Asia, three from Africa and the Mediterranean and two from the neotropics. They are known colloquially as Gambier, Cat's Claw or Uña de...

 and pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...

 plantations. The first ride on horseback across the island was along Bukit Timah Road in 1840; it took four days and was made by Mr Thomson and Dr Little.

Bukit Timah Road is known as tek kha kang a kinn in Hokkien
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....

, which means "the side of the stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 in the tek kha (or Selegie Road) district". This only refers to the lower end of the Bukit Timah Road. The Wayang Satu and Bukit Timah village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 parts are differently called. The Hokkiens also refer to Bukit Timah as be chia lo bue, meaning "end of the horse carriage road".

Bukit Timah Road witnessed the last defensive stand against the invading Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese army. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 lost Bukit Timah to the Japanese on 11 February 1942, they knew they had little chance of continuing the defence of the island as most of their food and supplies were stored there. On 15 February 1942, the head of the Allied forces
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

, Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 A.E. Percival
Arthur Ernest Percival
Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, CB, DSO & Bar, OBE, MC, OStJ, DL was a British Army officer and World War I veteran...

 surrendered to Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita
Tomoyuki Yamashita
General was a general of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. He was most famous for conquering the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, earning the nickname "The Tiger of Malaya".- Biography :...

 at the Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 Factory in Bukit Timah.
During the Japanese Occupation, Japanese troops built Syonan Jinja
Syonan Jinja
Syonan Jinja was a former Shinto shrine in the middle of the MacRitchie Reservoir forest in Singapore. It was built by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in World War II. When the British forces re-occupied Singapore, the Shrine was destroyed...

, a Shinto shrine (Syonan-to was the Occupation name for Singapore), similar to the Yasukuni Shrine
Yasukuni Shrine
is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is dedicated to the soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. Currently, its Symbolic Registry of Divinities lists the names of over 2,466,000 enshrined men and women whose lives were dedicated to the service of...

 in Japan but of a smaller size, at Bukit Timah. Two war memorials dedicated to the Japanese war dead and, surprisingly, to the British and Empire troops who died defending Singapore, were built at the site. Students, Japanese commanders and British POWs' representatives would gather there regularly to commemorate the dead during the Occupation.

Shortly before the Japanese surrender, Japanese forces hastily destroyed Syonan Jinja, on fears that returning British forces would demolish it in a dishonourable manner. The site of the Syonan Jinja lies in a grey area between the Nature Reserve and Singapore Armed Forces restricted area. Several historians have been to the site, and an episode from then Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) history documentary programme, "Hey Singapore", was based on Syonan Jinja. Since then, the Singapore Government has designated the place as a "Historical Site". No plans have been indicated to restore the site.

Some of the Japanese war dead were taken back to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, while the remains of the British troops were interred at the British Commonwealth's Kranji War Memorial in Singapore. Nothing of the Syonan Jinja shrine remains, except for the ritual cleansing pond and several Japanese stone pavements left at the site.

After the Japanese occupation
Japanese Occupation of Singapore
The Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II occurred between about 1942 and 1945 after the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. Military forces of the Empire of Japan occupied Singapore after defeating the combined Australian, British, Indian and Malayan garrison in the Battle of Singapore...

, the farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

s and plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

s in Bukit Timah gave way to industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

 buildings and high-rise flats
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

. In the 1960s and 1970s, Bukit Timah was a major industrial centre. Today, these have been replaced with luxury bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...

s, terraces
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...

 and condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...

s, making Bukit Timah Singapore's premier residential district.

Highlights

The Bukit Timah area is a particularly prominent location with a high land value. The area of Bukit Timah has an extensive flora and forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 compared to other parts of Singapore, and contains Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is a small 1.64 square kilometer nature reserve near the geographic centre of the city-state of Singapore, located on the slopes of Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore's highest hill standing at a height of 163.63 metres, and parts of the surrounding area...

, which is partially responsible for its high land value. The nature reserve was established in 1883.

The Bukit Timah Race Course
Bukit Timah Race Course
The Bukit Timah Race Course was a venue for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Bukit Timah area of Singapore. Built by the Bukit Timah Turf Club, it was opened on April 15, 1933 by the Sir Cecil Clementi, Governor of Singapore...

, a thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 facility, was opened in 1933 and operated until 1999.

The area includes educational institutions such as Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)
Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)
Anglo-Chinese School is a secondary school of the Anglo-Chinese School family located at the Barker Road campus, Singapore. It offers the GCE 'O' Level Course for its students from Sec 1 to Sec 4/5. Students may then move on to Anglo-Chinese Junior College with affiliation favours...

, Singapore Chinese Girls' School
Singapore Chinese Girls' School
Singapore Chinese Girls' School is one of the oldest schools in Singapore having been founded in 1899. It is a full school with both primary and secondary divisions, taking in students between the ages of 6 and 16...

, Methodist Girls' School
Methodist Girls' School
Methodist Girls' School is a girls' independent school, consisting of two sections - the Primary School and Secondary School, located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. It is affiliated to the Anglo-Chinese School family and the Methodist Church in Singapore...

, Hwa Chong Institution
Hwa Chong Institution
Hwa Chong Institution is an independent school in Singapore for students aged 12 to 18 covering both secondary and pre-university levels. A Ministry of Education-designated FutureSchool, it operates under the Special Assistance Plan for bilingualism, and offers the Integrated Programme and also...

, National Junior College
National Junior College
National Junior College is the first junior college established by the Ministry Of Education, located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. It is considered as one of the top five junior colleges in Singapore. NJC offers a two-year course for pre-university students leading up to the GCE 'A' Levels...

, Raffles Girls' Primary School
Raffles Girls' Primary School
Raffles Girls' Primary School is a primary school for girls located in Singapore. It offers the Gifted Education Programme to Primary Four to Primary Six students. Despite its name, RGPS is not considered part of the Raffles family of schools, which consists of Raffles Girls' School , Raffles...

, Nanyang Primary School
Nanyang Primary School
Nanyang Primary School is a co-educational primary school in Singapore, normally covering ages 6 to 12. It is situated in Bukit Timah , which is a private housing district near Coronation Plaza. The principal is Mrs Lee Hui Feng. Although it is not run by the government of Singapore, it receives...

, Nanyang Girls' High School
Nanyang Girls' High School
Nanyang Girls' High School is an all-girls secondary school in Singapore. It participates in the Integrated Programme with Hwa Chong Institution under the Hwa Chong Affiliate Programme...

, Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School
Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School
Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary is a co-educational, SAP and government-aided primary school located at Pei Wah Avenue in Bukit Timah, Singapore....

, Saint Joseph's Institution
Saint Joseph's Institution
Saint Joseph's Institution is a Catholic secondary school for male students in Singapore. It was founded in 1852 as "Saint John's Institution", and is the third oldest educational institution in Singapore .SJI provides an education to boys of all races and...

 and Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Ngee Ann Polytechnic , is an institute of higher learning in Singapore, founded in 1963 as Ngee Ann College with 116 students...

 amongst others.

The nearby area hosts many bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...

s, typically expensive in land-scarce Singapore, as well as high rise condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...

s. Many expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...

s and well-heeled Singaporeans stay in this region.

This region was later extended and Upper Bukit Timah (District 21) was formed. The Keretapi Tanah Melayu
Keretapi Tanah Melayu
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad or Malayan Railways Limited is the main rail operator in Peninsular Malaysia. The railway system dates back to the British colonial era, when it was first built to transport tin...

 from Malaysia has a passing loop station here along its rail network from Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...

 to Tanjong Pagar
Tanjong Pagar
Tanjong Pagar is a historic district located within the Central Business District in Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's urban planning zones....

.

External links

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