Bedok

Bedok is a planning area and matured residential town located in the East Region of Singapore. It has a land area of about 21.69 km², Bedok ranks the 7th, 1st & 7th in terms of size, population & density respectively. Bedok New Town is the fifth Housing and Development Board (HDB) new town; its development started in April 1973 and continued over some 15 years. The planning area, an urban planning zone under the Urban Redevelopment Authority, encompasses the Bedok New Town itself, the low-rise private residential areas along Upper East Coast Road, and in the districts of Kembangan, Siglap and Telok Kurau, and the high-rise private condominium developments in the eastern part of Marine Parade.

Bedok is located at the southeastern part of Singapore's east region and is made out of 8 subzones, namely, Bayshore, Bedok North, Bedok Reservoir, Bedok South, Frankel, Kaki Bukit, Kembangan and Siglap. It is bounded by Paya Lebar to the north, Hougang to the northwest, Tampines to the northeast and east, Geylang to the west and Marine Parade to the southwest.

Etymology and early history

"Bedok" seems to be a very old place name. In the 1604 Manuel Gomes de Erédia's map of Singapore, there is a reference to the Bedok River called sune bodo (Sungei Bedok).

Bedok is one of the early native place names in existence around the time of Sir Stamford Raffles. In the first comprehensive map of Singapore Island completed by Frankin and Jackson and reproduced in John Crawfurd's 1828 book, the place name appears on the south-east coast of the island as a river, Badok S. (Sungei Bedok), around the "small red cliff", a part of present-day Tanah Merah.

The Malay word bedoh refers to a type of slit drum made from a large hollowed log for calling people to a mosque for prayers or to sound the alarm in the days before loudspeakers. There was a prominent mosque in the 1950s at Jalan Bilal that still used the drum about five times a day. The "h" in the word bedoh was replaced with a "k", and, as with most Malay words that end with a "k", it is pronounced with an inaudible glottal stop.

A less popular version refers to an equally uncommon Malay term of biduk, a small fishing boat like the sampan, or more likely, a dugout canoe, as the east coast was dotted with many fishing villages.

Bedok New Town

Bedok New Town covers a land area close to 9.4 km² with some 42% occupied for residential use. It was formerly a hilly region and hence the focal point of orientation of the town is the special landscaped park and sports complex built on the higher ground of the town. The residential blocks as well as the industrial area are planned based on the neighbourhood concept.

Residential development

There are some 58,000 units of flats built by the HDB in Bedok New Town. As one of the older towns, the majority of the flats are 3-room or 4-room. There are also some 2,700 and 583 units of executive and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDC) flats. It provides housing for some 200,000 residents.

Notable Structures

Education

Primary Schools	Secondary Schools	Tertiary & Other Institutions
Bedok Green Primary School CHIJ (Katong) Primary School Damai Primary School East Coast Primary School Fengshan Primary School Opera Estate Primary School Ping Yi Secondary School St Anthony's Canossian Primary Temasek Primary School	Bedok Green Secondary School Bedok South Secondary School Bedok View Secondary School Damai Secondary School Ping Yi Secondary School St Anthony's Canossian Secondary School St. Patrick's School Temasek Secondary School Victoria School	Temasek Junior College Victoria Junior College

Defunct Schools	Notes
Bedok North Secondary School	Merged into Damai Secondary School in 2018

Transportation

• Bayshore MRT station (Opening in 2024)
• Bedok Bus Interchange
• Bedok MRT station
• Bedok North MRT station
• Bedok Reservoir MRT station
• Bedok South MRT station (Opening in 2025)
• Kaki Bukit MRT station
• Kembangan MRT station
• Marine Terrace MRT station (Opening in 2024)
• Siglap MRT station (Opening in 2024)
• Sungei Bedok MRT station (Opening in 2024)
• Tanah Merah MRT station
• Upper East Coast Bus Terminal

Government-related

• Bedok Community Centre
• Eunos Community Club
• Fengshan Community Club
• Heartbeat@Bedok
• Kampong Kembangan Community Club

Shopping Centres/Malls

• Bedok Mall
• Djitsun Mall (Bedok)

Parks

• Bedok Reservoir Park
• Bedok Town Park
• Telok Kurau Park

Bus Interchanges/Terminals

Bedok Interchange

Service	Destination	Notes
7	Clementi	N/A
9	↺ Changi Airfreight Centre
14	Clementi
16	Bukit Merah
16M	Bukit Merah
17	Pasir Ris
17A	Bedok North Avenue 4
26	Toa Payoh	N/A
30	Boon Lay
30e	Pasir Panjang Road	Weekday AM Peak Express Service
32	Buona Vista	N/A
33	Kent Ridge
35	↺ ALPS Ave	Alternate Operating Hours
35M	↺ Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal
38	Tampines	N/A
40	↺ Merpati Road
60	Eunos	Looping point
69	Tampines
87	Sengkang	N/A
155	Toa Payoh
168	Woodlands
196	Clementi
197	Jurong East
222	↺ Chai Chee Drive
225G	↺ Bedok North Street 3	Clockwise loop
225W		Counter clockwise loop
228	↺ Bedok Reservoir Road	N/A
229	↺ Bedok South Road
401	↺ Fort Road	Weekends & Public Holidays
854	Yishun	N/A
854e	Alighting only	Weekdays AM Peak Express Service

For bus services that do not start or end at this interchange but layover in this interchange

Service	Boarding Point	Destination	Notes
14e	Blk 403 84211 Bedok Nth Ave 3	Orchard Road	Weekdays AM Peak Express Service
196e	Lagoon View 93049 Marine Parade Rd	Shenton Way

Upper East Coast Terminal

Service	Destination	Notes
13	Yio Chu Kang	N/A
25	Ang Mo Kio
43	Punggol
45	Ang Mo Kio Depot
46	Pasir Ris
55	Bishan
137	Sims Place
853M	Yishun	Sundays & Public Holidays

Politics

Incumbent	Role
North East CDC
Desmond Choo	Mayor of North East CDC
South East CDC
Mohd Fahmi Aliman	Mayor of South East CDC
Aljunied GRC
Gerald Giam	Member of Parliament for Bedok Reservoir-Punggol
Muhamad Faisal Manap	Member of Parliament for Kaki Bukit
Pritam Singh	Member of Parliament for Eunos
East Coast GRC
Cheryl Chan	Member of Parliament for Fengshan
Heng Swee Keat	Member of Parliament for Bedok
Maliki Osman	Member of Parliament for Siglap
Tan Kiat How	Member of Parliament for Kampong Chai Chee
Marine Parade GRC
Edwin Tong	Member of Parliament for Joo Chiat
Vacant1	Member of Parliament for Kembangan-Chai Chee

• ¹: Tan Chuan Jin has resigned his position as Member of Parliament on 17 July 2023.

References

• Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1