Kampong Tanjong Irau

As far back as I remembered, according to my late father, the name “Irau” came from the word “Hirau” which means ignored in Malay. The place was too far deep thru the mangrove and were homes to tigers and other wild animals at that time that no one pays any attention to it. A stretch of road were build, better known as “sungai terus” to the villagers, and the wild animals were flushed out. Soon many came to built houses along the shore line and the kampong’s population grew and hence got it’s name.

The kampong is like an island itself literally, well at least when the tide is high it is. The curling shape of sungai simpang kanan meets the strait of Johor again during high tide makes the kampong like an Island. The boundary or border as you may say it starts after “sungai terus”. The first houses you see will be of Cikgu Ahmad’s on the right and Kim Song’s (our great Singapore’s footballer) on the left. I wish I have photos of my kampong, the place where I grew up.