Here’s a man who applied for asylum in Canada and Mars and finally had his several months stay at Kuala Lumpur airport end in his arrest on Tuesday. Hassan al Kontar’s saga is as tragic as that of any refugee fleeing a conflict, but what endeared the man to many around the world was his ability to deal with his uncertain status of having no home country with remarkable candour and humour.
When we spoke to him to feature him on our travel pages (Life in the terminal, MetroPlus , August 9), 37-year-old Hassan had already spent close to six months at the arrival lounge of Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 and become a celebrity of sorts through his constant updates on Facebook and Twitter. Hassan spent his time walking his red stuffed toy dog, Ms Crimson, around the terminal, and living off the largesse of airport employees and lunch giveaways from AirAsia. Even though he slept under an escalator, he never stopped hoping that some country would offer him asylum and that peace would return to his beloved Syria, pictures of which he often shared. His last post on Facebook was ‘my life journey in photos’. According to BBC reports, Hassan would be “referred to the immigration department” after police were finished with their questioning. With his arrest and likely deportation to Syria, which he fled to escape military service, it seems all the more essential to do what he had requested on his interview call — “Please spread my story”.