What’s in a Kampung Name?

What’s in a Kampung Name?

EVER WONDERED WHY certain kampungs are so named? Maybe they were named after their founders or an upstanding community member? Or perhaps, they got their names from plantation crops, or the hills and rivers in their immediate environs?

Some do have rather straightforward monikers, but there are those too whose names hint at interesting local histories:

Kampung Seronok

Kampung Seronok in Bayan Lepas translates as “Joyous Village” in English. It was initially called Kampung Haji Muhammad before it was renamed in 1946 at the suggestion of D.W. Grehan, a British engineer who had on several occasions shared in the joy and merry-making of the kampung folk in the days shortly after the Japanese surrendered.

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