Geylang

Geylang Road

There are many shophouses in Geylang.

Geylang, also known as Geylang Serai, is a neighbourhood in the city-state of Singapore east of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. It is located to the East of the Singapore River.

Etymology

The word Geylang is found early in Singapore's history. On Franklin and Jackson's plan, reproduced in John Crawfurd's 1828 book, Geylang appears as a river, referred to in the map as R. Gilang. The word Geylang is of Malay origin, and likely to be a corruption of the word kilang, meaning "press", "mill" or "factory". This may be due to the large number of processing factories for the coconut and lemongrass plantations in the area, and it could be that mills or presses operated on the coconut plantations to produce oil from copra.

Another possible origin to Geylang is the early presence of the fierce orang gallang tribe, one of the many orang laut tribal groups that lived along the coasts and rivers of Singapore island. The orang gallang were well-known for their piracy and pillaging of helpless craft in seas around Singapore island.

The other possible origin to the word "Geylang" is Chinese Hokkien "鸡笼“, which means chicken cage.

History

The neighbourhood has been the centre of Singapore's ethnic Malay community since Malays and Orang Lauts settled there after the British authorities dispersed their floating village at the mouth of the Singapore River in mid-19th century. By the latter half of the 1800s, the area has also become the congregation area of wealthy Malays and Arabs, particularly the Alsagoff, Alkaff and Aljunied families. In the 1930s, several exclusively Malay districts were formed, such as Kampong Melayu (Malay Village), later evolving into the today's Geylang Serai. A modern-day development called the Malay Village was created to replicate the history and heritage of this early settlement.

Contemporary Geylang

Partly untouched by urban projects and developments and so far spared by the gentrification process that has changed the face of Singapore since the 1970s, Geylang's combination of shophouse scenery and hectic day and night life, including a red-light district (particularly the even numbered streets or Lorongs), foreign workers quarters and karaoke lounges provides an alternative view of elements the rest of modern Singapore generally does not have. Shophouses along Geylang Road are protected from redevelopment, and several famous eateries have sprung up along the major road.

Transport

To get to Geylang Road, there are several MRT stations in the vicinity of Geylang Road. They are the Aljunied, Kallang and Paya Lebar stations. If you alight at Eunos MRT, it will take about 5-7 mins walk to Geylang Serai. There is also the Geylang Lorong 1 Bus Terminal situated in the Kallang planning area.

References

• Peter K G Dunlop (2000), Street Names of Singapore, Who's Who Publishing, ISBN 981-4062-11-1
• Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1