Kranji is a suburb in northwestern

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, bor ...

, bounded by Sungei Kadut to the north, Turf Club to the east, as well as Lim Chu Kang and the Western Water Catchment to the west. It is located about from the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

and it came from Malay word "Buah Keranji" due to pronunciation by local Malay, it became "Kranji".

Etymology

Kranji is named after a local

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

, ''pokok'' ''kranji'' or ''keranji'' ( Malay for '' Dialium indum'', velvet tamarind tree).

History

Kranji served as a

military camp A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large cam ...

before the

Japanese invasion of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire ...

in 1942, and is now the home of the Kranji War Cemetery and

Kranji War Memorial The Kranji War Memorial ( Chinese: 克兰芝阵亡战士公坟; ms, Tanah Perkuburan Perang Kranji; ta, கிராஞ்சி போர் நினைவு) is located at 9 Woodlands Road, in Kranji in northern Singapore. Dedicated to the ...

, commemorating the 30,000

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

personnel who died in Singapore, Malaya,

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

and

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In addition, it is now a prime residential area comprising mostly stand-alone properties. There are no towering apartment blocks, unlike most suburbs of Singapore. It is also an industrial area.

Highlights

The Singapore Turf Club operates Kranji Racecourse, the only

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

race course in Singapore. It is located next to the

Kranji MRT station Kranji MRT station is an elevated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North South line (NSL). Situated in Sungei Kadut, Singapore along Woodlands Road, it serves the Singapore Turf Club and the Woodlands Wafer Fabrication Park. The sta ...

. There is also a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

known as

Kranji Reservoir Kranji Reservoir ( Chinese: 克兰芝蓄水池; ) is a reservoir in the northern part of Singapore, near the Straits of Johor. It was a former freshwater river that flowed out into the sea that was dammed at its mouth to form a freshwater reser ...

, which was formed by the damming of the Kranji River.

Bollywood Veggies Bollywood Veggies Organic Farm (also known as ''Bollywood Veggies'') is a farming collective and organic growing education center located in the Kranji district of North West Singapore. The center was launched in 2000 by Ivy Singh-Lim and her husb ...

is an organic farming collective and information centre open Wednesdays - Sundays.

Transportation

In 1903, the Singapore-Kranji Railway was launched with four stations, running from Tank Road to Kranji. It is connected to

and is one of the main boarding and alighting stops to and from Johor Bahru for Bus Service 160 and 170/X.

References

*Romen Bose (2006), "Kranji - The Commonwealth War Cemetery and the Politics of the Dead", Marshall Cavendish Editions,

External links

Kranji War Cemetery and Singapore MemorialSingapore Turf Club
Places in Singapore {{Singapore-geo-stub