Kampong

This term has also been used to refer to urban slum areas or enclosed developments and neighborhoods within towns and cities in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Christmas Island.

In Brunei, the term kampong (also kampung) primarily refers to the third- and lowest-level subdivisions below districts (Malay: daerah) and mukim (subdistricts).

Infrastructure-wise, it typically has a primary school and a balai raya or dewan kemasyarakatan, the equivalent of a community centre.

[2] Both kampong and kampung are considered to be correct spellings, and both alternatives are common in written media and official place names.

[3][4] In Cambodia, "kampong – កំពង់" is used to describe a place on a river or lake-shore where people can dock their private small boats.

The term kampong has been widely used in Cambodia, likely for thousands of years, to name places such as provinces, districts, communes and villages.

Based on the examples above, the meaning of kampong in Khmer can also arguably be defined as "an area or place located near a river or lake that people named as their own after they arrived, or formed their community at afterward."

In Indonesia, kampung generally refers to a hamlet, which is considered the opposite of the Indonesian kota ("city" in English).

The British initiated the Kampung Baru ("New Village") program as an attempt to push Malays into urban life.

Malaysia's long-serving prime minister Mahathir Mohamad lauded urban lifestyles in his book The Malay Dilemma[8] and associated kampong village life with backward traditionalism.