Some seemingly good news today for Hassan Al-Kontar, the Syrian refugee who has been stuck in Kuala Lumpur’s KLIA2 airport for nearly 40 days: The Home Ministry is now saying that they are considering giving him a special pass that will allow him to stay in Malaysia.
Al-Kontar had previously been blacklisted from Malaysia after overstaying his visa when he first came here in 2016.
Acting Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Nur Jazlan Mohamed said that if Al-Kontar passes an extensive security process that ensure no prior issues, they would like place him under a Syrian refugee program here. The deputy minister made the statement at an Immigration Department excellence awards ceremony this morning.
But speaking to Coconuts KL today via Twitter, Al-Kontar said that while he was extremely grateful for the potential offer, he harbored doubts that Malaysia would provide a long-term solution.
“In 9 months, my passport will be expired and I will stuck here forever. [There is] no work for us as Syrians and it’s very expensive, so I can’t support myself financially. I need a place where I can be legal with a permanent visa — like a refugee visa — a place where I can be legal with work.”
Indeed, it’s unclear that any pass given to Al-Kontar would provide him the long-term security he seeks. In 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi specifically ruled out Malaysian citizenship for refugees, telling Parliament that the “placement of Syrian refugees will only be temporary and the government is steadfast in its position that they will [one day] have to return.”
“In this matter, the government has no plans to receive the Syrian migrants as Malaysian citizens,” he said at the time.
Coconuts KL revealed yesterday that Al-Kontar had met with officials with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He said today that they remain in contact with him and are currently studying his file.
Al-Kontar has been living in the airport since a failed attempt to enter Cambodia last month. Looking for a country that would take his Syrian passport without a visa, he had first attempted to travel to Ecuador in 2017, only to have his ticket voided by Turkish Airlines, a move that cost him his last few dollars.
While Cambodia could have, in theory, accepted the Syrian, officials there told him he did not have enough money to qualify for a tourist visa, reportedly confiscated his passport, and sent him back to Malaysia in early March.
Al-Kontar says that while there is a warrant for his arrest in Syria, it is because he refused conscription into the army, that would have resulted in having to serve in the country’s longstanding civil war. He has stated that he has no desire to kill his own countrymen.
Coconuts KL originally broke the story Wednesday, after a series of Al-Kontar’s Twitter video began to get traction online. Since then, the international press, BBC among them, have shed light on the Syrian refugee’s plight.
We hope a solution for his unfortunate immigration limbo is near.
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