History of Kampong Tempeh

If you look at the map of Singapore today, you will not be able to locate Jalan Tuah anymore. Jalan Tuah was just a short street in terms of size and when all the people have moved out of the kampong due to relocation, the authorities have unceremoniously removed it from the Singapore map.

Kampong Tempeh received its name and was made famous in Singapore during those days for the tempeh that was produced in the village. Tempeh is a type of fermented food made out from soy bean which originates from Indonesia and it is a favorite item among the Javanese people. Most of the pioneering villagers living in Kampong Tempeh came from Indonesia and there were many families involved in the tempeh making business. The tempeh produced were home made, its recipe being passed down from the older generation and their productions combined were enough to make it as a famous tempeh making district. As time goes on, gradually food companies started producing tempeh from the factories and at the same time by the late 70’S only a handful of the families were left in the tempeh business.

There were actually many clusters of houses in the kampong and each cluster may comprise of several houses belonging to the same close-knit family members. This is of course the traditional way of how the old Malay kampong is structured and Kampong Tempeh is of no exception. Most relatives tend to have their houses next to each other. This was possible because originally one family would normally build a house in quite a large plot of land and when the family grew, they simply build an annex as another unit of dwelling or if space permit, another house is built next to it. It was not known how many houses or families actually were living in the kampong but it could be around 100 or 200 houses.