Ulu Sembawang, the country

Up to the 1990s, Ulu Sembawang was a sprawling expanse of rolling hills and low-lying ponds, a rural backwater known as “the country”.

Ulu Sembawang in 1986. Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Where was Ulu Sembawang? It was the upriver portion of the Sungei Sembawang, bounded by the trunk roads of Sembawang Road to the east, and Mandai Road to the south.

Gradually, most of this was lost. Much of the west of historic Ulu Sembawang became part of Woodlands town, while much of the east was locked up inside Sembawang Air Base, the chief defence facility of the north.

There remains a glimpse into the past, though - a short stretch along the Ulu Sembawang Park Connector, where the Mandai Birds Sanctuary used to be. The rough location on the park connector is marked with a pink dot below.

Credit: Singapore Land Authority.

The sanctuary moved out by 2019, leaving the gently sloping land fallow. Grass and shrub have taken over.

The result is a breathtaking vista of open wilderness that stretches to the horizon. I’m told hikers flock here at dawn to catch the sunrise. The scenery is no less beautiful in the evening.

Treasuring this while it lasts.

Possibly Singapore’s shortest road

This is Jalan Ulu Seletar, possibly Singapore’s shortest road.

The road, off city-bound Sembawang Road, is around 5 metres in length, only slightly longer than an average-sized car. In fact, if not for the road sign proclaiming its existence, I would have mistaken it for a parking lot.

I can’t imagine another road shorter than this. Of course, it wasn’t always this way.

Jalan Ulu Seletar is at least a century old. It appears on a 1923 map as an unnamed track skirting around a hill 105 feet in height; the track is highlighted blue.

Base picture credit: The National Archives (United Kingdom).

The hill was north of Seletar Village, also known as Chan Chu Kang, later renamed Nee Soon Village; it was west of mangrove swamps lining the shores of the Sungei Seletar, the area’s largest river. The track most probably served the rubber plantation in the area, ending in a rubber factory to the north.

The track was named in July 1948, as one of nine roads in the rural districts, three of them in Sembawang.

As reported in The Straits Times: “The three new roads at Sembawang are Jalan Ulu Seletar at the 10½ milestone, Jalan Kuala Sempang (Simpang) at the 12¾ milestone, and Jalan Ulu Sembawang at the 13 milestone.

“One (Rural Board) member remarked: ‘These names in Malay seem quite a mouthful.’

“Another retorted: ‘They are descriptive and I consider them apt titles to the district they serve.’”

Credit: Singapore Press Holdings.

And so the names stuck. I would consider “Jalan Ulu Seletar” to be appropriate for the area, because “Ulu” was a local term for “upriver”, and the road was in the upriver portion of the Sungei Seletar.

Below is a map of the area in 1953. The rubber plantations which Jalan Ulu Seletar served have disappeared, replaced by “unclassified minor cultivation” (M. C.) and cleared land (C. L.).

Base picture credit: Survey Department, Singapore.

Two years later, in 1955, a surau was erected along the road to serve the community. As it was near Nee Soon Village, it was named Surau Nee Soon Jalan Ulu Seletar.

In 1961, the surau was expanded and upgraded to a mosque to cater to the growing number of worshippers. It was also renamed Masjid Ahmad Ibrahim, after the Assemblyman for Sembawang, who had contributed to efforts to upgrade the surau. (This despite the mosque being in the constituency of Nee Soon, not Sembawang.) Ahmad Ibrahim would pass away the following year of an illness, aged just 35.

Ahmad Ibrahim.

Below is a map of the area in 1970. There was a village along much of the length of the road; Masjid Ahmad Ibrahim was most probably the building highlighted red.

Base picture credit: Survey Department, Singapore.

The present address of the mosque is 15 Jalan Ulu Seletar, even though it is at the junction of Sembawang Road and Jalan Ulu Seletar. The reason is because Sembawang Road in the area used to curve around hills. Up to the mid-1970s, the mosque was a short distance from the Sembawang Road junction. However, between 1976 and 1978, the stretch of Sembawang Road in the area was straightened for the sake of motor traffic. Hence, a short length of Jalan Ulu Seletar was cut off by the new, straightened Sembawang Road, and the mosque ended up at the new junction.

Below is a map of the area in 1978. While Jalan Ulu Seletar is in blue, the former curved part of Sembawang Road is in yellow, while the cut-off portion of Jalan Ulu Seletar is in green.

The yellow and green portions remained on maps until 1991, after which I assume they were mostly expunged. A small curve has survived, but is off limits, inside Nee Soon Camp.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

I found a good photo of Jalan Ulu Seletar which is dated around 1980, but it contains a little mystery.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

This looks like the Sembawang Road junction, but the large body of water in the background looks too close to the junction. Maps tell me the Sungei Seletar and ponds near its shores would have been further away from the junction. And Jalan Ulu Seletar never shared a junction with another major road.

Anyway, below is a map of the area in 1991. By now, Jalan Ulu Seletar was hemmed in by Yishun Avenue 1 to the north and Lentor Avenue to the east, while the Sungei Seletar had been dammed into a reservoir known as Lower Seletar Reservoir today.

The last of Jalan Ulu Seletar’s villagers vacated their homes by 1993. Thereafter, most of the road was expunged for private developments served by new roads such as Springside Road, Springside View, and Springside Avenue. Only a short segment of around 50 metres from the Sembawang Road junction survived to serve Masjid Ahmad Ibrahim.

Masjid Ahmad Ibrahim today.

Up to 2019, the road seemed accessible to motor vehicles, at least on Google Street View. One of the two lanes was used for parking. However, after 2020, the road looked closed to motor traffic.

My guess is that the need for COVID-19 safety check-ins for mosque goers necessitated the closure of the road, allowing people to queue outside the entrance.

On the left is Springside Park; on the right is Jalan Ulu Seletar, now closed to motor traffic, next to the entrance of Masjid Ahmad Ibrahim.

The closed road is now used for mosque goers to queue up outside the mosque.

As a result, the only stretch of road still accessible to motor vehicles is a roughly 5-metre segment next to the original road - and that is the present Jalan Ulu Seletar.

And thus concludes the story of how possibly Singapore’s shortest road came to be.

Kampong Wak Selat Muslim Cemetery

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an old Muslim cemetery near Old Choa Chu Kang Road End, what was once the western end of the trunk road known as Choa Chu Kang Road.

Now, I have chanced upon another old Muslim cemetery near Kranji Road End, the northern end of the trunk road that was once Bukit Timah Road-Kranji Road.

This cemetery is tucked away in the small patch of forest between Kranji Loop and Kranji Water Reclamation Plant, next to a small lane called Jalan Wak Selat. The lane is the access road to a carpark serving the ageing JTC flatted factory buildings of 2, 4, and 6 Kranji Loop.

“Wak” means “Uncle” or “Grandfather” in Javanese, an honorific for an elder. “Selat” is Malay for “Straits”. Hence, “Wak Selat” could mean “Uncle of the Straits”, possibly a reference to a community leader of the area, which was near the Straits of Johor.

The place name belonged not just to the road, but a kampung which used to exist around the road.

***

Kampong Wak Selat was established just after the end of World War II (1945) at the junction of Kranji Road and the Keretapi Tanah Melayu railway track running to the Woodlands Checkpoint. People could have settled there because it was near two pineapple factories, which would have been a source of employment.

Below is a map of the area in 1961. The village is shaded light blue, Jalan Wak Selat is dark blue, and the railway track is pink. The village’s Muslim cemetery is also marked on the map.

Base picture credit: Survey Department, Singapore.

Kampong Wak Selat and Jalan Wak Selat made the news in 1972 when the road was metalled. At the time, it was 660 feet long, while the village had a population of 300.

Below is a map of the area in 1970. Again, the village is light blue, while the road is dark blue.

Base picture credit: Survey Department, Singapore.

Kampong Wak Selat made the news again in 1992 and 1993 as its residents were resettled and the village cleared for redevelopment. There were calls for the village to be preserved, but it did not happen.

Below is a map of the area in 1991, just before clearance. By then, Kranji Loop and Blocks 2, 4, and 6 had been built.

Photos were taken of Kampong Wak Selat before and during demolition.

Below is possibly Jalan Wak Selat, running into the village.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Kampung houses.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

The insides of kampung houses.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

A makeshift outdoor gym.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

A provision shop.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

A football pitch.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

The village surau.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Below is the site today. The railway track was removed after 2011. Most of Jalan Wak Selat and a good part of the former village site have been swallowed by forest. It is possible that remains of the road still lie inside the forest.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

This is Jalan Wak Selat today - it has been rerouted to run into a carpark, and it does not even have its own signpost.

***

At least part of Kampong Wak Selat’s Muslim cemetery, possibly as old as the kampung itself, has survived.

The junction of Kranji Road and Jalan Lam Huat. The cemetery is hidden beyond the trees.

Walking down Kranji Road, I would have missed the cemetery if not for the large sign erected by the authorities.

Beyond the sign...

Most of the surviving graves are nondescript and in various stages of crumbling to nothing.

I wonder as to the stories of the people who are buried here.

Behind some bushes, I discovered a grave that stands apart from the rest in terms of ornateness.

Aminah Ibrahim, died 1945.

According to the 2019 Master Plan, the site of the former village - where the cemetery is today - is a “reserve site”, which means the area should stay as it is for the time being. Madam Aminah and her neighbours can continue resting for now, as they have done so for the last eight decades.