Hassan al-Kontar said Malaysia’s refugee policy lags far behind that of most developed countries, and many Malaysians were “very misinformed” about what goes on at detention centres.
“The immigration officers and police in the detention centre should be civilised. They should care about human rights,” he told FMT.
“They jailed a 12-year old Rohingya boy with me in the detention centre. A kid,” he said. “There were women with babies three or four months old in the women’s cells. That’s not acceptable, by any standard.”
Hassan said Malaysia had a long way to go in handling refugees and asylum seekers.
However, despite his nine-month ordeal in Malaysia, he insists he still harbours some fondness for the country.
For nearly seven months in 2018, Hassan lived at klia2’s arrival hall. He survived off donated airline meals, showered in bathrooms for the disabled, and slept beneath stairwells.
He was stuck at the airport in limbo, unable to return to his war-torn homeland of Syria, and without the papers to enter Malaysia.
His story captured the world’s attention and shone a spotlight on a refugee crisis that remains unresolved.
Hassan later moved to Canada, after being sponsored by a group of Canadians, whom he calls his “avenger team”, and secured permanent residence there.
A former insurance agent, he now sets his sights on helping other refugees achieve the same freedom he now enjoys.
“I was not an activist before I went to Malaysia,” Hassan said, “but what happened to me, and the experience I had at the airport changed me somehow.
“I became somebody who isn’t intimidated by bullies like immigration or the system.”
Despite the “hate” and “hostility” he experienced at the hands of the authorities, Hassan said that “it made me who I am today, and for that I’m thankful”.
He is now working with Operation #NotForgotten, a fundraising effort aiming to sponsor hundreds of refugees detained on Manus Island and Nauru, so that, like him, they too can find a home in Canada.
Thus far, they have submitted more than 60 applications and raised over C$1.5 million (RM4.73 million).
He is also a volunteer with the British Columbia Muslim Association and the Red Cross, and is on the path to becoming a full Canadian citizen.
“Thank God I’m in a country that values human beings, their dignity and rights. I’ll be safe forever, and that’s a priceless feeling. I am free, I have a voice and I have value, and that’s everything I was fighting for,” he said.