Geylang Serai Historic district. The Geylang Serai area is bounded by Paya Lebar Way, Aljunied Road, Guillemard Road, Dunman Road and Joo Chiat Road. One of the earliest Malay settlements in Singapore, it was first occupied in the 1840s after the British dispersed the Malay village that existed at the mouth of the Singapore River. At that time, wealthy Arab families bought large tracts of land in the area.

A large section of Geylang Serai formed part of the Perseverance Estate, owned by the Alsagoff family. The settlement was originally called Geylang Kelapa (‘kelapa’ means ‘coconut’ in Malay) because of the coconut plantations there. The name ‘geylang’ is believed to be a corruption of the word ‘kilang’ which is the Malay word for ‘mill’ or ‘factory’ (there were mills on the coconut plantations, where oil was produced from copra). The area’s name was changed to Geylang Serai when the coconut plantations were replaced by plantations of citronella (lemongrass, or ‘serai’ in Malay). Lemongrass was processed commercially to produce oil for the manufacture of soaps and perfumes. The area changed during the Japanese Occupation, when tapioca replaced the lemongrass plantations.

Geylang Serai was home to many Malay kampongs. However, these were eventually torn down to make way for development. By 1980, the last of Geylang’s kampong dwellers had moved into flats.

In the run- up to Eid- ul- Fitr (Hari Raya Puasa), various streets in Geylang Serai are lit up with festive lights. A month- long bazaar is set up around the Geylang Serai Market, and the entire area becomes extremely busy as Muslims do their shopping in preparation for the festival.