Heartlands, Heartlander

The word "Heartlands" was mentioned during the NDP parade no less than 30 times. The narrator/compere/MC would always say something like "And from the various Heartlands..." or like "Tampines Heartlands" or like "Lets have a look at the celebrations going on in the Heartlands".

Oh my god. Everytime I hear the word, I wince.

So the word "Heartland" has replaced the word "New Town"? i.e., instead of Ang Mo Kio New Town, its called Ang Mo Kio Heartland? Pasir Ris New Town becomes Pasir Ris Heartland?

In case there are some non-singaporeans reading this, the government (or was it Lee Kwan Yew?), in a bid to reduce congestion in the city area, decided to construct several self-sustaining neighbourhood "towns". In each of these "towns", there would be hawker centers, restaurants, all kinds of shops, movie theatres etc, so that people need never leave their neighbourhood.

And now these towns become known as Heartlands. And a "Heartlander" is a person who lives in these towns.

But, here's what the word "Heartland" means in Google:

• identified by the British geographer Halford Mackinder (1904) as the zone in East-Central Europe, control of which would be a key to world domination. The term has since been appropriated by Latin American geopolitics.
• the central region of a country or continent; especially a region that is important to a country or to a culture
• Geopolitical term, used to refer to a central area of Eurasia that is remote and inaccessible from the periphery. The term Heartland has a particular importance in the works of Sir Halford Mackinder. He believed that the Heartland was the strategic region of the foremost importance in the World.

Why has the word taken on an entirely different meaning in Singapore?