Bukit Merah planning area also includes two offshore islands which are linked to the mainland by road, namely Pulau Brani and Keppel Island. It is the most populated planning area in the Central Region, and the 12th most populated planning area in the country overall, being home to more than 150,000 residents.[5]
Etymology
Bukit Merah translates to “redhill” in Malay, and is a reference to the red-coloured lateritic soil found on the hill. According to the Sejarah Melayu, Singapore used to be plagued by swordfish attacking the people living in the coastal regions. A young boy named Hang Nadim proposed an ingenious solution, to build a wall of banana stems along the coast at the present location of Tanjong Pagar.
When the swordfish attacked, their snouts were stuck in the stems. With the swordfish problem solved, Hang Nadim earned great respect from the people, but also jealousy from the rulers. The fourth King of Singapura, Paduka Seri Maharaja, finally ordered his execution, and it was said that his blood-soaked the soil of the hill where he was killed, giving rise to the red-coloured hill.[6]
The hill was eventually trimmed to its current state in 1973, when it made way for Redhill Close and what would eventually become the now defunct Henderson Secondary School. During its existence, a Chinese cemetery was situated on the reverse side of this hill, which is today, the location of Tiong Bahru.
History
Keppel Harbour dates back to the 14th century when an ancient Chinese traveller, Wang Dayuan named the harbour"Long-Ya-Men" or "Dragon Teeth Gate" after two rock outcrops located near Labrador Park, which resembled dragon's teeth. The two rock outcrops were subsequently blown up by the Straits Settlements Surveyor, John Thomson, in August 1848 to widen the entrance a new harbour.
With the earliest records of Bukit Merah's existence in the Malay Annals, the town had a huge role to play in the early maritime trade of the Kingdom of Singapura.
Mount Faber was once known as Telok Blangah Hill. Its name was changed to Mount Faber after Captain Edward Faber cut the road up to the top in 1845 to set up a signal station. The Singapore General Hospital site dates back to 1882. Labrador Nature Park was used as a defence outpost in the 19th century until World War II.[7]
The town's fertile red soil was employed to great effect when it was a district rich in gambier cultivation during British colonial rule.[8]
Even before the industrialisation of Jurong, Bukit Merah already had a small head start in the emerging heavy industry market in Singapore. With the first brickwork factories and mills emerging in the precincts of Henderson Hill and Redhill as early as the 1930s.[9]
The town is also home to the first housing estate in the country, Tiong Bahru, which was developed by the Singapore Improvement Trust in the backdrop of a rapidly growing population in post-war Singapore. The estate later became the basis of what would eventually become the first new town in the Republic, Queenstown.
Geography
The Bukit Merah–Central Area boundary line along Outram Road as seen from Bukit Merah.
Bukit Merah Town Centre, Bukit Merah Bus Interchange, Bukit Merah Polyclinic, Former HDB Centre, Bukit Merah Secondary School, Gan Eng Seng Primary School and Wat Ananda Metyarama Thai Buddhist Temple
Blangah Rise Primary School, CHIJ St. Theresa's Convent, Mount Faber Park, Radin Mas Community Club, Radin Mas Primary School, Tang Gah Beo Temple, SAFRA Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Community Club and Telok Blangah Hill Park
Outram Park MRT station was the first station to open in the planning area in 1987, followed by the namesake Redhill MRT station and Tiong Bahru MRT station in 1988. Today, there are currently 7 MRT stations that serve the planning area across 4 lines, the East West line, Circle line, North East line and the Thomson-East Coast line. HarbourFront MRT station is an interchange station between the North East line and the Circle line, which is also the current terminus for both lines. Outram Park MRT station was initially a double-line interchange station between the East West and North East lines but became a triple-line interchange station after the commencement of the third stage of the Thomson–East Coast line in 2022. The 7 stations are:
The future stations, Keppel and Cantonment will be located within the new town as part of Stage 6 of the Circle line that will be completed by 2026.[11]
During the 2025 Committee of Supply debate, Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat announced that feasibility studies are being conducted for a proposed MRT line, tentatively called the Tengah line. If found feasible, the line, which will serve areas including Bukit Merah, could be built from the 2040s.[12]
Bukit Merah belongs to six political divisions in four constituencies. A large portion of Bukit Merah is under Tanjong Pagar GRC with some areas under Jalan Besar GRC, Radin Mas SMC and West Coast GRC, served by the People's Action Party. As of the 2020 General election, the Members of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC are Indranee Rajah for Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru division, Joan Pereira for Henderson-Dawson division and Eric Chua for Queenstown division. Melvin Yong is the current Member of Parliament for Radin Mas SMC, Rachel Ong for Telok Blangah division of West Coast GRC and Josephine Teo for Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng division of Jalan Besar GRC. The planning area is overseen by three town councils, namely Tanjong Pagar Town Council (TPTC), West Coast Town Council (WCTC) and Jalan Besar Town Council (JBTC).
↑ informally written as 武吉美拉; Wǔjí Měilā. The Chinese name 武吉美拉 not in line with Singapore's language policy, which favors semantic translation (conveying the meaning, not the sound). It would be unfamiliar or confusing to native Chinese speakers who expect meaningful place names.
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