COUNTING

The iconic trishaw pedallers in Penang are old, homeless and destitute

MOHAMED BASYIR

news@nst.com.my

SITTING in his threewheeled trishaw, tired after a day of pedalling, Ah Seng lights a mosquito coil as he prepares to call it a day. At 68, Ah Seng admits he is no longer as strong as he was when he first started pedalling the iconic trishaw 20 years ago, but reckons that there could be a few more years left in him.

Reluctant to speak much of his personal life, Ah Seng said he lived on the street, bathed in public toilets and everything he owned was in a bag underneath the trishaw seat.

Ah Seng is one of the 150-odd trishaw pedallers left in Penang.

Songs have been written about them, murals painted and they have