Kampong Bukit Beruang (), also simply known as Bukit Beruang, is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Tutong District Tutong District (; Jawi: دائيره توتوڠ) or simply Tutong is one of the four districts of Brunei. It has an area of ; the population was 48,313 in 2016. The administrative town is Pekan Tutong. It is home to Tasek Merimbun, the count ...

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

, about from the district town

Pekan Tutong Tutong or officially known as Tutong Town ( ms, Pekan Tutong) is a municipality town in Mukim Pekan Tutong Tutong District, Brunei. It is located about from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. Governance It is officially a Municipa ...

. The population was 6,157 in 2016. It is one of the villages within

Mukim Telisai Mukim Telisai is a mukim in Tutong District, Brunei. The population was 10,095 in 2016. Name The mukim is named after Kampong Telisai, one of the villages it encompasses. Geography The mukim is located in the western part of Tutong Distri ...

, a mukim subdivision in the district. It comprises the original village settlement as well as the

public housing estate Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

Bukit Beruang National Housing Scheme.

Name

The name Bukit Beruang, which meaning Hill of Bears, is one of the more well-known place names. According to one

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the North ...

used to inhabit the area, which is how the place got its name. Sungai Beruang (Bears' Stream) is the name of a

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

in Tutong, which may be related to the same bears. The village was originally named Tepangan Beruang, which means 'A tree where a bear nests'. Bears are believed to nest on trees and that tree is called ''tepangan''. At that time, the village had many bears to the point where its commonly seen in the forest, especially by some people from Kampong Penyatang and

Kampong Danau Kampong Danau (), simply known as Danau, is a coastal village in Tutong District, Brunei, about from the district town Pekan Tutong. It has a total area of ; the total population was 1,072 in 2016. It is one of the villages within Mukim Telisa ...

who use boats through Penyatang River and Uropyang River. These rivers are used as a route for them to go back and forth doing farming activities and visiting (buying and selling).

History

Kampong Bukit Beruang was the meeting between the people on the land side, namely

Kampong Bukit Udal Kampong Bukit Udal is a village in Tutong District, Brunei, about from the district town Pekan Tutong. It has an area of ; the population was 1,306 in 2016. It is one of the villages within Mukim Tanjong Maya, a mukim A mukim is a type of admi ...

and its surroundings and from the villages on the north side such as Kampong Penyatang, Kampong Danau and

Kampong Telisai Kampong Telisai is a coastal village in Tutong District, Brunei, about from the district town Pekan Tutong. The village also encompasses the public housing area STKRJ Kampong Telisai. The population was 2,293 in 2016. It is one of the village ...

. By using the river journey while trading and visiting a place called Tamuan Lawai, the people on the sea side bring goods such as

dried fish Fresh fish rapidly deteriorates unless some way can be found to preserve it. Drying (food), Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of microorganisms. Open air drying using sun ...

belacan Shrimp paste or prawn sauce is a fermented condiment commonly used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisines. It is primarily made from finely crushed shrimp or krill mixed with salt, and then fermented for several weeks. They are eit ...

and so on while the people on the land side bring their crops such as

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

and so on . The history began to be recorded around the 1940s and 1950s.

Public housing

The public housing estate has an area of and as of 2018 consist of 530 detached houses, 1,368 units of terraces, and 368 'cluster' houses of 4-units each. It is one of the only two public housing estates in the district; the other one is

STKRJ Kampong Telisai Public housing in Brunei comprises government development programmes which aim to provide ownership of land or homes to the citizens of Brunei. They are managed by the Housing Development Department (), a government department under the Ministry of ...

. The housing estate began construction in 2010 and was contracted to Tee international from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. It was planned to complete 1,500 houses by 2013.

Facilities

Facilities located in the village include: * , the village

community hall Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

* Bukit Beruang Fire Station, opened in 2014 and one of the only three fire stations in the district.

Education

The local primary schools include: * Pengiran Kesuma Negara Bukit Beruang Primary School — It was formerly known as ("Bukit Beruang Malay School"). The current building began to be used in 1999. As of 2004, it had 33 teachers for the morning session and 11 in the afternoon, as well as 364 pupils from preschool to Primary 6. The school facilities include classrooms, library, dental clinic, playground and canteen. * Perpindahan Kampong Bukit Beruang II Primary School *

Tutong Sixth Form Centre Tutong Sixth Form Centre (; Malay, abbreviated; ') is a sixth form centre in Tutong District, Brunei. It first opened its doors in 2012, and since then, accepts mainly secondary school leavers from the district. Background The school campus is ...

, the only

sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

in the district *

Sayyidina 'Othman Secondary School Sayyidina 'Othman Secondary School ( or ''SMSO'') is a government secondary school in Bukit Beruang, a settlement in Tutong District, Brunei. The school provides five years of general secondary education leading up to O Level qualification. As of ...

, the government secondary school for the residents of

Each school also shares grounds with a i.e. school for the country's Islamic religious primary education.

Religion

Rancangan Perumahan Negara Bukit Beruang Mosque is the village mosque.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bukit Beruang Villages in Tutong District Public housing estates in Brunei