Cheah Teng Hong is the director of Corporate Finance at the World Bank, where he has been since 1981. In this interview, one of Penang’s sons looks at where he was born and grew up from his current home in Washington, DC and ruminates over the roads he has taken.
You were born and bred in Penang. How did you find growing up there?
I loved growing up in Penang. I was lucky enough to live on Gurney Drive, in one of a row of old small link houses next to the old playground there. These old houses, which have since been torn down for a food court, only had bucket latrines, and the houses were well worn even in those days, but I loved living there on the beachfront.
I loved the beautiful golden sunrises and sunsets, the quietness and serenity of Gurney Drive during the day and the hustle and bustle of cars, bikes, hawkers and parading people at night. Growing up in Penang in the 1950s and 1960s was growing up in a time when people were friendly, simple, self-effacing and down-to-earth (as the Hokkiens say, “lau sit”).
