Bukit Batok
Either the 5th or the 6th highest Hill in Singapore. The hill is topped with two tall transmission towers of the Mediacorp Transmission Centre.
Height: 99.7 m [Singapore. Instrumental Plot - Sheet H14: Singapore 1:10,000 (Produced by Fairey Surveys Ltd for the Government of Singapore, 1970)]
Location: 1°21'06.4"N 103°45'55.4"E
View of the Bukit Batok from the Northwest direction. Photo taken from the south slope of Bukit Gombak. (2020-10-24).
Route to Summit: The Mediacorp Transmission Centre occupies most of the summit and is out of bounds. However the summit plateau extends beyond the parameter fences and is accessible, but please beware of the dangers. From Lorong Sesuai, steps lead up to about ~5 m below the summit plateau. A few meters beyond the last of the steps, a 'danger' sign beckons. Tens of meter beyond the 'danger' sign and round a fence, a small slopes can bring you up to a similar altitude as the summit plateau level. That's as high as you can get. Please beware that the 'danger' sign is there for reason, as the slopes around the summit plateau are steep. Proceed with caution!
The Bukit Batok summit plateau is occupied by the Mediacorp Transmission Centre. (2020-08-30)
Other Names: Non that I know of
History:
Bukit Batok first appeared on maps in the 1898 edition of "Map Of the Island of Singapore And Its Dependencies" (See extract from map below, from National Archives of Singapore). This is an early series of maps that details the interior of Singapore island. On the map, it's height was posted as 351 ft (107.0 m). A later map in 1932 has it at 348 ft (106.1 m). At that point in time, it would have been the 5th highest hill in Singapore (after Bt Timah, Bt Gombak, Bt Panjang, and Bt Mandai).
During WWII, the Japanese occupation army built a memorial to their war dead on the summit, called the Syonan Chureito [link]. It was destroyed by the Japanese themselves just before their surrender at the end of WWII. However, the steps leading up to the summit is still there.
In the early 1960s, the Bukit Batok TV Transmission Station was built on the summit plateau of Bukit Batok [link] and a transmission tower occupied the summit (you can still see the footprint of the original tower in the picture below). With various upgrades and rebuilding of the towers and complex, its present incarnation as Mediacorp Transmission Centre still occupies the summit.
The height of the summit according to a 1970 1:2500 survey map is 99.7 m (327 ft). My guess is that during the Japanese construction of the Syonan Chureito, the top of the summit was levelled to create a platform to construct the monument, the few meter decrease (from the original 106 m) may be due to this. That few metres difference may not seem much, but there are several other hills at the approx. 100 m mark, and this may have caused Bukit Batok to tumble down the list. As Bukit Kalang is also marked at 100m, it is right about the same height as Bukit Batok. Which is higher is still an open question.
Aerial view of the summit plateau of Bukit Batok Hill. In the grass parch surrounded by the building on three sides, you can still see the footprints of the four 'legs' of the original radio tower built in the 1960s. The newer towers are on the right, mostly out of the pictures scope. (Screenshot from Google Map 2020-12-25)
Other Information: Non Currently
Photo Gallery:
View of Bukit Batok from the east. Picture taken from Bukit Timah Hill (2020-10-29).
View of Bukit Batok from the south east. Picture taken from Toh Yi Estate (2020-12-29).