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 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 ''Dialium indum'', the tamarind-plum, is a tall, tropical, fruit-bearing tree. It belongs to the family Fabaceae, and has small, typically grape-sized edible fruits with brown hard inedible shells. No reports of cultivation exist, information o ...

'', 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 in 1942, and is now the home of the

Kranji War Cemetery The Kranji War Cemetery is located in Kranji, Singapore, and is the final resting place for Allied soldiers who perished during the Battle of Singapore and the subsequent Japanese occupation of the island from 1942 to 1945 and in other parts o ...

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 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 mos ...

and Sumatra 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. 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 The Singapore Turf Club was founded in 1842 as the Singapore Sporting Club to operate the Serangoon Road Race Course at Farrer Park Field. It is the only horse-racing club in Singapore and is part of the Malayan Racing Association. The first r ...

operates

Kranji Racecourse The Singapore Racecourse/ Singapore Turf Club is a venue for thoroughbred horse racing, situated in Kranji, next to the Kranji MRT station. Built and operated by the Singapore Turf Club, it opened on 4 March 2000, replacing the Bukit Timah Race Co ...

, the only horse racing 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 contro ...

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

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

ming 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