koh comes from a local teochew family and spent the early years of his life living in punggol, where his family lived in a farmhouse at lorong cheng lim. the family then moved to a four-room hdb flat in toa payoh. his father was a bus driver who drove the cross-island public bus service 82. koh was the oldest child in his family and often worked odd jobs when he was young to support the family.