Bedok

Sune Bodo (left) for Sungei Bedok marked in this 1604 map of Singapore by Godinho de Erédia. The map is orientated with the South towards the top left.

The name "Bedok" 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.

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 southeast coast of the island as a river, Badok S. (Sungei Bedok), around the "small red cliff," a part of present Tanah Merah.

The Malay word bedoh refers to a huge drum, used 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 theory for its etymology often refers to the 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.

An 1879 watercolour painting of the coast of Siglap by John Edmund Taylor.

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 Village 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 also another primary source of income for the villagers of Simpang Bedok at the time.[6][7]

The modern development of Bedok only began in 1966, when reclamation works along the coastal area began.[7] 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.[8] 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 in 1983 – 1988.

A former housing estate opposite Bedok Reservoir

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. There is also a town centre together with Bedok Mall and Bedok Point being built. Plans for an integrated complex, which will be as big as 3 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.

The area of Bedok falls under three constituencies and nine divisions following the 2020 elections, which were Aljunied GRC, East Coast GRC, and Marine Parade GRC.

The Aljunied GRC covers northern Bedok along with the subdivisions of Kaki Bukit and Bedok Reservoir; its MPs were the secretary-general of the Workers' Party (WP) Pritam Singh, former NCMP Gerald Giam and Muhamad Faisal Manap, and WP had held on to the constituency since the 2011 election where it was first led by then-secretary general Low Thia Khiang. Before 2011, Aljunied GRC was under the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) with MPs former Foreign Minister George Yeo and Zainul Abidin, while Kaki Bukit was under the Marine Parade GRC where Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim represented the ward back then (now as MP for Nee Soon GRC).

The East Coast GRC covers the central Bedok area, east Siglap, and Bayshore; its MPs were Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (an ex-Tampines GRC anchor minister), Cheryl Chan, minister Maliki Osman, and Minister of State Tan Kiat How. East Coast GRC has been staged as closed fights against the WP since the 2011 election, but the PAP won the GRC in a narrow margin. Its previous MPs include cabinet ministers such as Lee Yock Suan, S Jayakumar, Raymond Lim and Lim Swee Say, as well as previous speakers Tan Soo Khoon and Abdullah Tarmugi. For the 2015 election, Chan's ward of Fengshan was carved as an SMC for only one term before reverting to GRC.

The Marine Parade GRC covers Frankel, Kembangan, and west Siglap; its MPs were current Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and Minister Edwin Tong. Tong's ward of Joo Chiat was a SMC for three elections beginning in 2001 until it was absorbed into GRC in 2015.

The following is the list of schools in Bedok as of March 2020:

As of 2020, 10 major hawker centres are serving highly affordable local street food. 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bedok.

• URA Draft Masterplan 2013 Bedok
• Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics – A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
• From National Library Board Singapore, Infopedia website.
• Chin, Daryl. (, 2014). Bedok residents to get a new sports complex, library, and community club under one roof by 2017. The Straits Times.