Jalan Besar 



Origins of the Name

Jalan Besar only appeared in the 1880s, when the colonial government constructed it through nipah land and called it Jalan Besar, meaning "big or wide road" in Malay.
Image result for jalan besar
The "Wide road" in recent years[1]
 A peculiarity of the street names in Jalan Besar is that many bear the names of World War I British generals and admirals and two French generals such as Allenby, Kitchener, and Beatty. The names of famous battle places such as Flanders, Somme and Verdun are also reflected. Today, Jalan Besar is a gazetted conservation area.

Most of the roads above were cut from the 1920s onwards when the then-swampland was filled in with incinerator ash from Singapore's first incinerator built in the vicinity of today's Syed Alwi Road. From 1926, the Colonial government decided to name the newly opened roads after personalities and battle-sites of the European conflict so as to remind the then-colony of Singapore of the conflicts in Europe.

The street is known to the Hokkien as kam kong ka poh thai tu long, which means "the slaughter pig depot in Kampong Kapor". [2]
Jalan Besar in the 1960s and 70s

National Day Parade celebrations at the old Jalan Besar Stadium in 1977



The first Singapore Armed Forces Day was held at the Jalan Besar Stadium on 1 July 1969 [3]

National Day Parades
Up till 1975, the parade was held yearly at the Padang. After that, between the years 1975 and 1983, the National Day parades were held in decentralized locations every alternate year. This started in 1975 (when the parade was held in different locations islandwide) and also in the subsequent years of 1977, 1979, 1981, and 1983. With the exception of 1981, the old Jalan Besar stadium was one of the venue for these decentralized National Day parades.[4] On top of that, Jalan Besar stadium was also the site of the first SAF parade in 1969. 
A song about the heritage of Jalan Besar 

The New World

New World Amusement Park @ Jalan Besar
New World occupied an area bounded by Jalan Besar, Kitchener Road, Serangoon Road and Petain Road. From the start, the park was a magnet for people from all walks of life, from labourers to European merchants and even Malayan royalty, who flocked to sample its range of spectacles, songs and more sensuous attractions. There were boxing and wrestling matches, variety shows, lucky draws and cabaret acts. Teochew and Hokkien troupes, along with Malay bangsawan groups, performed operas to thronging audiences. For the young-at-heart, there was a Ferris wheel, merry-go-rounds and film screenings, while income could also be disposed of at stalls hawking trinkets, fashion and food.[5]

The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew watching a ronggeng dance performed in New World in 1964. 
The New World gradually declined in the 1970s when television and, later, home video became popular. The crowds vanished and New World was at one time occupied by a furniture showroom and a church. The longest surviving amusement park, New World finally closed in 1987 when the land was bought for development into a condominium.[6]


























Notes

[1] Image taken from: www. mothership.sg
[2]Savage and Yeoh, Toponymics: A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, 2003
[3]Image taken from: http://www.ghettosingapore.com/jalan-besar-stadium-where-singapore-football-began/
[4]Singapore Infopedia, Singapore's First National Day Parade, <http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_524_2004-12-29.html>, 2014. See also video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtYx1qmppc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgs576Xsc9w&list=PLBD0AB158597C4383&t=334s&index=3
[5] National Heritage Board, Jalan Besar: A Heritage Trail, 2012, page 10-11
[6] Ibid. Page 12


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