Got lah - all Bukits are higher land,or small hills - the original Malay name. Bukit Merah and adjacent Bukit Ho Swee are relatively small hillocks made of sandstone and appeared dusty and red in colour. Around the hills were squatter colonies of congested attap and zinc houses. The hilltops were relatively bare - that accounted for the red colour surface. Pigs used to roam and shit all over the place. Of course, the great Bt Ho Swee fires cleared off the colonies - and with it went the most notorious gangsters of Bt Ho Swee! Even after the fires, the remnants of gangs used to hide their parangs in our small gardens.
Now very old liao - some gang members are hiding in Queenstowns, and even outlying Indonesian islands and Malaysian small towns in Johor. Of course Bukit Ho Swee and Bukit Merah very different - the PAP gahmant has erased the red and coloured it with green trees all over the islands. Much of the land is lowered and levelled.