NB: This article from Jun 7, 2018, was republished on Apr. 21, 2024
By Taryn Wilson
Kuala Lumpur, Jun 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. For more than three months he has been living in the corridor of the arrivals hall where he sleeps on the floor and survives on airline food.
Thursday marks the beginning of his fourth month in the airport where he has access to two bathrooms and a couple of mobile phone kiosks in a situation that has drawn comparison to Tom Hanks’ character in the film The Terminal.
“I try to sleep and I can’t. I walk alone a lot. I’m not in the mood to listen to songs or speak to anyone. I keep a low profile,” Kontar, 36, told EFE.
A member of the Druze minority from Sweida, Syria, Kontar said he fears arrest for refusing military service if he returns to his homeland, but is barred from entering Malaysia and his attempts to leave have so far been unsuccessful.
He believes this is not about him – it is about being Syrian. “It’s not a personal story – it’s about my people,” he said.
His problems began when the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. At that time he had already been living as an expat in the UAE for five years and had built a career in insurance and business development. His said his life at that time was “booming.”
When the war began, he said the government increased a fee expats who had been overseas for more than five years had to pay in lieu of returning to serve in the military from $3,500 to almost $8,000, which he could not afford.
He also refused to join the war. “There’s 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 so he lost his work permit and went into hiding. Last year, he was able to get a new one, which he said is valid for two years for “one time only.”
He was then deported in October to Malaysia where Syrians can stay for 90 days, and after paying a fine for overstaying, tried to leave to avoid being illegal.
His plan was to get to Ecuador as the country is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and he could also enter visa-free on his Syrian passport. But he said he was inexplicably prevented from boarding his Turkish Airlines flight on Feb. 28.
“They did not 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.
He then tried Cambodia – also one of the few countries Syrians can enter with a visa on arrival.
“They said I don’t match the requirements so they sent me back to Malaysia, and since then I’m stuck here,” he said.
He added he is now barred from entering Malaysia.
Kontar said he has had contact with some organizations about his predicament. Kuala Lumpur’s UNHCR spokesperson Yante Ismail told EFE he has been offered support and assistance by the organization and the Malaysian government.
But Malaysia is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention, so Kontar said the country cannot provide him with official residency where he can work legally.
He also fears that when his “final” passport expires in January he will be stuck wherever he is at that time.
Tired of being in illegal or temporary situations, Kontar is putting hope in 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, then that 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 suspects is due to stress and no access to sunlight or fresh air.
Kontar has established a routine where he showers late at night when there are fewer people around before he goes to sleep on the floor, wakes up again around 3 am and waits until 7.30 am for airport staff to bring him a coffee.
He spends the rest of the day talking to Canadian volunteers and the media, speaking to his family in Sweida via Whatsapp, tweeting his thoughts and reading free e-books 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. A voice booms through the PA system every few minutes – it drives him crazy and he describes himself as its “prisoner.”
“You think things you would never think you would think of. You are rediscovering your limits,” he said.
“I’m a human and a part of this planet whether they like it or not. I demand my minimum rights to live, to travel freely, to be secure, to be safe, to have a family … that’s all. I just want to have a normal life. But it’s becoming more difficult with time.”
The Immigration Department of Malaysia could not be reached for comment. EFE
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