‘This is about my people’: Syrian man living at Kuala Lumpur airport

Note: This article from June 7, 2018 was republished on April 21, 2024

By Taryn Wilson

Kuala Lumpur, June 7, 2018 (EFE). – Hassan al-Kontar can only watch as thousands of people stream past him through Malaysia’s KLIA2 airport and disappear through immigration. He has been living in the corridor of the arrivals hall for more than three months, where he sleeps on the floor and survives on airplane food.

Thursday marks the start of his fourth month at the airport, where he has access to two bathrooms and a pair of cell phone kiosks in a situation that draws comparisons to Tom Hanks’ character in the movie The Terminal.

“I’m trying to sleep, but I can’t. I walk alone a lot. I’m not in the mood to listen to songs or talk to anyone. I keep a low profile,” Kontar, 36, told EFE.

Kontar, a member of the Druze minority from Sweida, Syria, said he fears arrest for refusing military service if he returns to his home country, but has been denied entry to Malaysia and his attempts to leave have not been successful so far.

He believes that it is not about him, but about the fact that he is Syrian. “It’s not a personal story – it’s about my people,” he said.

His problems started when the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. He had been living in the UAE as an expat for five years and had built a career in insurance and business development. He said his life was “booming” at the time.

When the war started, he said the government increased the fee that expats who had been abroad for more than five years had to pay instead of returning to serve in the military from $3,500 to almost $8,000, which he couldn’t pay.

He also refused to join the war. “There is no enemy here – both sides are my brothers. Both are Syrians. War is not an answer. I can’t be part of a killing machine,” he said.

Kontar said the Syrian embassy then refused to renew his passport in 2012, causing him to lose his work permit and go into hiding. Last year he was able to get a new one, which, according to him, is valid for two years “once-only”.

He was then deported to Malaysia in October, where Syrians are allowed to stay for 90 days. After paying a fine for overstaying, he tried to leave to avoid becoming illegal.

His plan was to go to Ecuador, as the country is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and he could also enter visa-free with his Syrian passport. But he said he was inexplicably prevented from boarding his Turkish Airlines flight on February 28.

“They didn’t cancel the ticket because I’m Hassan. They canceled it because I am Syrian,” he said.

Turkish Airlines did not respond to EFE’s requests for comment.

Then he tried Cambodia – also one of the few countries where Syrians can enter with a visa upon arrival.

“They said I didn’t meet the requirements, so they sent me back to Malaysia, and I’ve been stuck here ever since,” he said.

He added that he is now barred from entering Malaysia.

Kontar said he has been in contact with a number of organizations about his predicament. Kuala Lumpur UNHCR spokesperson Yante Ismail told EFE that he has received support and assistance from the organization and the Malaysian government.

But Malaysia has not signed the Refugee Convention, so Kontar said the country cannot give him an official residence permit where he can work legally.

He also fears that when his “final” passport expires in January, he will be stuck wherever he is.

Tired of being in illegal or temporary situations, Kontar is pinning hope on a group of volunteers who are petitioning the Canadian government and raising money to sponsor him as a refugee to the country.

“Enough is enough. If Canada refuses me, it means I’m back to square one. I don’t think I’ll be able to do this again,” he said.

He said he has been sick a few times, which he blames on stress and not having access to sunlight or fresh air.

Kontar has developed a routine where he showers late at night when there are fewer people around before sleeping on the floor, wakes up around 3 a.m. and waits until 7:30 for airport staff to bring him coffee.

He spends the rest of the day talking to Canadian volunteers and the media, via WhatsApp with his family in Sweida, tweeting about his thoughts and reading free ebooks in Arabic. He pays a staff member to take his clothes for laundering.

An airline provides him with the same meal three times a day. Every few minutes a voice booms over the PA system – it drives him crazy and he describes himself as its ‘prisoner’.

“You think things you would never think you would think of. You rediscover your limits,” he said.

“I am human and part of this planet, whether they like it or not. I demand my minimum rights to live, to travel freely, to be safe, to have a family… that’s it. I just want to live a normal life. But it becomes more and more difficult as time goes by.”

Malaysia’s immigration department could not be reached for comment. EFE

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