Heartbeat@Bedok

Bedok ( ) is a planning area and residential town located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah along the south-eastern coast of the East Region of Singapore. Bedok is bounded by five other planning areas: 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. It also shares a maritime boundary with the Singapore Strait to the south and southeast.

Bedok has a rich history, with evidence of human settlement dating back to the 14th century. The area was originally a fishing village and agriculture centre, but it has transformed into a bustling residential and commercial hub over the years. Today, Bedok is known for its vibrant and diverse community, with a mix of public and private housing options, shopping centers, parks, and a thriving food scene.

In addition to its commercial development, Bedok also boasts several green spaces and parks, including Bedok Reservoir Park and East Coast Park, providing residents with ample opportunities for recreation and relaxation. The area is also well-connected to the rest of the city, with a number of transportation options, including MRT stations, bus routes, and major expressways, making it an accessible and convenient location for residents and visitors alike.

Population wise, Bedok is the largest planning area in the country, being home to approximately 280,000 residents. This high demographic is largely explained by the affordable public housing in Bedok New Town, due to its relatively distant location from the Central Area. Besides public housing developments, private residences are also prevalent in the area, most of which are found in the neighbourhoods of Bayshore, Frankel Avenue and Siglap, in western and southwestern Bedok.

Overview

Etymology

The origin of the name "Bedok" likely comes from the Malay word for "drum", a reference to the sound of drums heard in the area during traditional festivals and ceremonies.
Its use was known as early as 1604 in Manuel Godinho de Erédia's map of Singapore. The map refers to the Bedok River (present-day Sungei Bedok) as ''Sune Bodo''.

History

As part of the Tanah Merah region, Bedok's history is largely influenced by its coastal frontier. The general area known as Bedok today was first mentioned in maps dating to the pre-Raffles era. After Singapore was colonised by the British in 1819, Simpang Bedok became an ethnically mixed community consisting of Chinese and Malay peoples. Before the 1960s, Bedok's primary source of income was coconut, which was harvested from the plantations found in the Siglap subzone. Fishing was another primary source of income for the villagers of Simpang Bedok at the time.

The modern development of Bedok only began in 1966, when reclamation works along the coastal area began. In the following decade, Bedok was transformed by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) into the country's fifth self-contained new town, with the first residential flats emerging in the vicinity by 1975. Following the Fall of Saigon that same year, Bedok Jetty became a focal point for Vietnamese refugees landing in Singapore during Operation Thunderstorm.

Bedok Town had been developed since 1973, with the newer roads such as Bedok Plain, Bedok Highway, and Bedok Heights being built until 1975. The New Upper Changi Road was fully built and opened in 1979, where the massive development had been completed except Bedok Reservoir and Kaki Bukit, which was built later between 1983 and 1988.

Geography

Location

Bedok Planning Area is located within the East Region of Singapore, along Pulau Ujong's southeastern coast. 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.

Bedok New Town sits within the Bedok Planning Area.

Subzones

Bedok is divided into 8 subzones:

Infrastructure

Bedok New Town covers a land area close to 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. There is also a town centre situated between the present Bedok Mall and the former Bedok Point site. Plans for an integrated complex, which will be as big as three football fields, have also been revealed in 2014. This complex, Heartbeat @ Bedok, houses a sports centre, library, clinic, centre for the elderly, and the Kampong Chai Chee Community Club. The complex is located in the Bedok Town centre and was completed in 2017.

Residential development

Some 58,000 units of flats were 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 flats. It provides housing for some 200,000 residents.

Transportation

There are currently nine Mass Rapid Transit stations in the Bedok planning area across three lines, the East West line, the Downtown line and the Thomson–East Coast line. Three lines run parallel to one another and do not have an interchange station in Bedok. However, the Tanah Merah MRT station of EWL is an interchange station with the Changi Airport branch line (CG). The nine stations are:

* Tanah Merah
* Bedok
* Kembangan
* Kaki Bukit
* Bedok North
* Bedok Reservoir
* Marine Terrace
* Siglap
* Bayshore

The future stations of the Thomson-East Coast line are currently under construction and will be operational in 2026 under stage 5. The line will run south of the planning area and have an interchange station with the Downtown line at Sungei Bedok station, which will also be the terminus for both lines. The two future stations are:

* Bedok South
* Sungei Bedok

The Bedok Bus Interchange opened in 1979, as part of the Bedok Town Centre, located along Bedok North Road and between Block 203 and 207, next to community amenities such as a food centre, library, and sports complex, with the allocated Block 207A. There were thirty-three end-on berths with ten services occupying it and six sawtooth berths, each occupying three bus services in the original facility. Several bus services were moved to the interchange from Chai Chee Bus Terminal when it closed in 1985. Bedok MRT station opened in 1989 at the south of the original facility, complementing the bus interchange to serve people travelling within Bedok town and also the nearby East Coast Park.

On 19 November 2011, after operating from the original facility for 32 years, the bus interchange moved to its temporary facility west of the original facility, at the junction of Bedok North Drive and Bedok North Avenue 1, to allow the original facility to be redeveloped into Bedok Mall.

The new Bedok Integrated Transport Hub (ITH) began operations on 30 November 2014. It is the 7th air-conditioned bus interchange in Singapore.

Parks

The parks in the area include Bedok Town Park, located beside the Pan Island Expressway between Bedok North Road and Bedok Avenue 3, and the Bedok Reservoir Park alongside Bedok Reservoir.
Bedok Town Park park has been designated with the code 9V-0005 by the international Parks On The Air award program, and so is regularly 'activated' by Amateur Radio operators using portable equipment.

Politics

In early days, Bedok has been heavily organized into several constituencies over the years, and by 1976, a namesake Bedok Constituency was carved from Siglap Constituency with Sha'ari Tadin being the first MP for the area. Towards the end of 1980s as its population grew rapidly and with the introduction of the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) scheme, the electoral boundaries were redrawn to include the namesake GRC while other constituencies of the planning area were organized into GRCs of Aljunied GRC, Eunos, Marine Parade and Tampines while retaining other constituencies such as Joo Chiat and Fengshan. In 1997, Bedok GRC become the present-day East Coast GRC following the addition of Changi (until 2025 with the creation of Pasir Ris-Changi GRC) in the recent redistricting of constituencies, along with most of other Bedok constituencies. As of 2025, Bedok has been represented under three different constituencies: Aljunied GRC (northern Bedok along with Kaki Bukit and Bedok Reservoir), East Coast GRC (divisions covering most of Bedok, Joo Chiat, Siglap and Bayshore), and Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC (Frankel and Kembangan divisions).

Since 1988, the Workers' Party had frequently contest there in the areas of Bedok including the aforementioned GRCs. Their first victory was in 2011 election when WP won Aljunied GRC, capturing the northern areas of Bedok under the flagship of then-secretary general Low Thia Khiang and its present secretary-general Pritam Singh, who took charge of the Eunos division. Despite this, PAP had still retained the other constituencies albeit only by narrow margins.

The areas of Bedok has also been under charge by many prominent ministers including Maliki Osman, Lee Yock Suan, Raymond Lim and Lim Swee Say, former Senior Minister S. Jayakumar, previous speakers Tan Soo Khoon and Abdullah Tarmugi, and Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. As of 2025, East Coast was led by minister Edwin Tong and other four MPs Jessica Tan Soon Neo, Tan Kiat How, Dinesh Vasu Dash and Hazlina Abdul Halim, while Marine Parade-Braddell Heights was overseen by Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, who returned to that GRC (then as Marine Parade GRC back in 2006) after representing Nee Soon GRC from 2011 to 2025.

Education

The following is the list of schools in Bedok as of 2024:

Primary schools

* Bedok Green Primary School
* Damai Primary School
* Fengshan Primary School
* Opera Estate Primary School
* Red Swastika School
* St. Anthony's Canossian Primary School
* St. Stephen's School
* Telok Kurau Primary School
* Temasek Primary School
* Yu Neng Primary School

Secondary schools

* Anglican High School
* Bedok Green Secondary School
* Bedok South Secondary School
* Bedok View Secondary School
* Damai Secondary School
* St. Anthony's Canossian Secondary School
* Temasek Secondary School

Junior colleges

* Temasek Junior College (as of 2024, the campus has been temporarily relocated to Tampines whilst the Bedok campus is undergoing renovations)

Other schools

* Katong School (APSN)
* NPS International School

Hawker Centres

As of 2020, 10 major hawker centres are located in Bedok that serves local Singaporean cuisine. They are:

* Fengshan Market & Food Centre
* Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre
* Blk 216 Bedok Food Centre & Market
* Kaki Bukit 511 Market & Food Centre
* Bedok 538 Market & Food Centre
* Blk 16 Bedok South Market & Food Centre
* The Marketplace @ 58
* Bedok Food Centre
* The Bedok Market Place
* Blk 630 Bedok Reservoir Market & Food Centre

In popular culture

The popular blockbuster Singaporean drama known as '' It Takes Two'' was filmed around the area and that the protagonists and their family are all living together in the HDB Flats as neighbours under one roof and that Blk 216 Bedok Market and Hawker Centre was also another filming location for the drama as well, where both of the protagonist's families sell handmade fishball noodles at their respective stalls.

References

External links

URA Draft Masterplan 2013 Bedok
*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), ''Toponymics – A Study of Singapore Street Names'', Eastern Universities Press,

*Chin, Daryl. (, 2014). Bedok residents to get a new sports complex, library, and community club under one roof by 2017. The Straits Times
Bedok residents to get new sports complex, library and community club under one roof by 2017

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East Region, Singapore
Places in Singapore