Jurong
Jurong is a major geographical region located at the south-westernmost point of the West Region of Singapore. Although mostly vaguely defined, the region's extent roughly covers the planning areas of Jurong East, Jurong West, Boon Lay, and Pioneer, along with Jurong Island in the Western Islands cluster and the southernmost portions of the Western Water Catchment. The Jurong region can also include present-day Bukit Batok and Tuas.
Jurong also covers several offshore islands as well, including Pulau Damar Laut and Pulau Samulun, both of which are located within the planning areas of Jurong East and Boon Lay respectively; along with the aforementioned Jurong Island. The coastline of the region on mainland Singapore, faces the strait of Selat Jurong, while the southernmost island of the region, Jurong Island, faces the strait of Selat Pandan.
Jurong was first developed and heavily industrialised in the late 1960s in response to the general economic situation of post-independence Singapore, and remains vital to the country's economic growth, either commercial, industrial and residential. The heavy redevelopment of the region paved the way for the opening of a large-scale industrial sector in the country, something which was unprecedented at that time. Today, Jurong has become one of the most densely populated industrial areas in the country. Since the turn of the century, Jurong is envisioned to be the country's second central business district as part of the Jurong Lake District project.
Etymology
"Jurong" took its name from Sungei Jurong, a river that still channels into Jurong Lake, the latter of which was created by damming the river itself.Although its origins are disputed, the core definition of "Jurong", is probably derived from several meanings in Malay. The term could probably refer to the word for shark, "Jerung". It can also be derived from the word "Jurang" or a gorge. Jurong could also take its name from the word, "Penjuru", which roughly translates to, corner. Penjuru may most likely refer to the peninsula that sits between Sungei Jurong and Sungei Pandan. The native Malays named this peninsula, Tanjong Penjuru, which can be translated as Cape Corner in English. The present-day site of Tanjong Penjuru is now the subzone of Penjuru Crescent.
Geography
Pre-industrial Jurong
Landscape
Although Jurong's geography was documented on a few maps and records following Singapore's founding in 1819, the area only became clearer to the British in an 1828 geographical survey of the island by Lieutenant Philip Jackson. In a map that was drawn after the survey, the lieutenant clearly describes most of Jurong's natural geography with the two rivers of Jurong, Sungei Jurong and Sungei Pandan, marked on the map. He also noted down several islands which have since ceased to exist. Such islands include, Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Butun, Pulau Pese, Pulau Sakra and Pulau Saraya, all of which have since merged to form Jurong Island. Current geographical landmarks such as Pulau Damar Laut and the strait of Selat Sembilan have also been included on the map.The two rivers of Jurong were mentioned again in 1848, when a second survey conducted by John Turnbull Thomson, described the original shape and settlements of Sungei Jurong and Sungei Pandan. Turnbull describes both rivers as, "large creeks" with settlements around them both.
However, in the case of Sungei Jurong, Thomson gives his description as such:
Before the damming of Sungei Jurong, the present-day site of Jurong Lake was once occupied by two streams that split at the junction of the river. These two streams have since ceased to exist. However, like what Thomson said, these bodies of water roughly marked the present day locations of Jurong East and West, at that time identified as Jurong and Peng Kang on colonial era maps respectively.
Before its development in the 1960s, Jurong was left close to its pristine state after Singapore's founding in 1819. Although there were a few settlements around Jurong, most of the land was mainly uncharted territory. Swamps dominated the coastline of Jurong, yielding large amounts of wildlife such as mudskippers and horseshoe crabs. A forest reserve of dipterocarp trees would have once stood inland behind the grove of rhizophora trees along the coast. Low hills were mainly the highest elevated points around Jurong, although most of them were later levelled over the years.
This was evident, given the description made by Commodore Perry in his accounts of Jurong made during the Perry Expedition:
Territorial extent
In maps made by the British administration before Singapore's self-governance in 1959, the colonial era district of Jurong was rather small, occupying what is today the present-day town of Bukit Batok and Tengah. Jurong Mukim was earlier known as West Bukit Timak Mukim, the renaming to Juong Mukim is probably with reference the Jurong settlement located at the head of Jurong River and also located at the south-west corner of this Mukim. Other than that, most part of Jurong Mukim has very little historical basis for calling herself 'Jurong'.Furthermore, many residents have often regarded the areas along the stretch of Jurong Road, especially the southern areas, as part of the extant of Jurong. Such areas include the colonial era districts of Peng Kang, the southern portions of Choa Chu Kang, Pandan and Tuas.
Modern Jurong
Ecology
Today, most of what is left of the original pristine Jurong is restricted to the areas around the Pandan Reservoir and Sungei Pandan. Little traces of the dipterocarp forest still remain. The mangrove swamps today are now just a fraction of its former self, located at the mouth of Sungei Pandan. The untouched mangrove fringes still hold the last remnants of wildlife in Jurong. It is because of this that area remains a hotspot for nature enthusiasts and bird watchers to this day.Water bodies
Jurong is home to two prominent rivers, Sungei Jurong and Sungei Pandan, both of which flow into two larger water bodies, Jurong Lake and Pandan Reservoir respectively. The two rivers also source from Selat Jurong, a strait that faces south of mainland Singapore and north of Jurong Island.The two rivers also have extensions that flow into the mainland portion of the region. Sungei Pandan has a western branch, Sungei Ulu Pandan, which flows from Jurong East into the town of Clementi before cutting off at Queenstown located east of Clementi. Sungei Jurong channels out of Jurong Lake via a stream located west of the lake and Jurong Canal located directly north of the lake. The canal also serves as the boundary line between the towns of Jurong East and West.
Elevation points
The highest elevation point in the region is Jurong Hill, which is located close to the centre of the industrial estate at Jurong just adjacent to Jurong Bird Park.Geology
Jurong's unique locale lends to itself a special rock formation unlike any other in Singapore. Named the Jurong Formation, the sedimentary rock deposits can trace its roots back to the late Triassic and early to middle Jurassic periods.Territorial extent
The name "Jurong" is often used to collectively describe the region's five main planning areas. However, the URA does not officially recognise all of these places as a single territorial entity. Since the gazetting of the 1998 Master Plan, the Authority has officially classified Jurong as five individual separate planning areas. When Jurong is split into these five contiguous parts, it forms Jurong East and West in the north and north-west, Boon Lay and Pioneer to the south and south-west and Tuas to the extreme west of the region. Each of these individual areas can yet be further divided into subzones, smaller subdistricts that are a part of the larger planning area itself. If all five planning areas are combined, there would be a grand total of 34 subzones in Jurong.The boundaries of modern-day Jurong were first demarcated in the 1960 proposal of the new town. The planned town was to be located entirely south of Jurong Road, combining land that was once the colonial era districts of Peng Kang, Pandan and the southernmost portion of Choa Chu Kang. As a result of this proposal, the government gazetted portions of land from these areas to increase the overall size of Jurong. These boundaries were later further defined with the introduction of the URA 1991 Concept Plan in September 1991.
History
Before Raffles (c. 1600 – 1819)
The earliest known significance of Jurong can be traced back to 1595 on a maritime documentation of oriental trading routes. Titled "Reys-gheschrift van de Navigation der Portugaloysers in Orienten", the journal written by Dutch author Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, names a certain "Selat Sembilan" that one must cross eastwards after reaching the southernmost end of the Strait of Malacca. This suggests that the straits near Jurong witnessed a significant role in the ancient maritime Silk Road. Although not mapped by Linschoten, the location of Selat Sembilan was later identified in Philip Jackson's 1828 survey of Singapore. Despite much land-reclamation works along most coastal parts of Jurong and Tuas, Selat Sembilan still exists today as Selat Jurong, stretching along the entire coastline of the region.Even before the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819, small settlements had already been built along Jurong's coastal areas as well as the present-day site of Jurong Island, Pulau Damar Laut and Pulau Sembulan. Such squatters were inhabited by the native Orang laut, and there also immigrants from the nearby Dutch East Indies and Malaya.
Colonial era (1819 to 1942)
Earliest developments
Post-colonization, Jurong had a small population of inhabitants scattered along the banks of the area's two main rivers, Sungei Jurong and Sungei Pandan. It consisted mainly of a large Chinese and Malay migrant population.The majority of the Chinese population was Hokkien-speaking, immigrating from Anxi County in the province of Fujian, China. A Teochew demographic was also prevalent in Jurong. Originating from the City of Jieyang, the Teochew-speaking population mainly settled along the westernmost portions of Jurong.
Most of the Malays and Orang Laut in the area were natives of the land, settling in squatters and villages located along the coast of Jurong long before the founding of Singapore as a British colony in 1819. There were also other ethnic Malay groups that came down from the rest of the Malay Archipelago who migrated from various parts of present-day Malaysia and Indonesia. However, the exact statistics concerning foreign Malays settling in Jurong after 1819 is not clear.
In a visit to the area in 1848, the then-Chief Surveyor of Singapore, John Turnbull Thomson, made one of the earliest accounts regarding human settlements in Jurong.
He described the demographics along Sungei Jurong as such:
Thomson also gave his description on the population along Sungei Pandan:
With the increase in population size over the years, the need for a mode of travel to and from the Town of Singapore, was necessary. Between 1852 and 1853, the first few portions of Jurong Road were paved to connect villages around Jurong to the metropolitan areas of Singapore Town and the rest of the island. This first portion of Jurong Road started from the seventh milestone of Bukit Timah Road ending along the head of Sungei Jurong. Although it isn't known when the rest of the road was paved, by 1936, the road stretched up to the district of Tuas.