The Malaysian Terminal

The Malaysian Terminal In the 2004 film “The Terminal,” Tom Hanks plays an immigrant from the fictional country of Krakozhia who becomes stateless and is stranded in New York’s JFK airport after a civil war erupts in his nation. Similarly, Hassan al-Kontar, a Syrian refugee, has been stuck in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport since March of this year, the BBC reported. Spending his day reading and surfing the net, Hassan has been documenting his journey on social media and campaigning for asylum. His troubles started back in 2011, when he refused to join the Syrian civil war, while working in the United Arab Emirates. “I refused to join the fight because I don’t believe in war,” he told the BBC. “So I became wanted by the Syrian government.” The Emirati authorities allowed him to travel to Malaysia, which provided him a three-month visa but didn’t accept him as a refugee. Three months later, he tried his luck with Cambodia and Ecuador. But Cambodia rebuffed him, and he was not allowed to board his flight to Ecuador. So he got stuck in Kuala Lumpur. Activists are now petitioning the Canadian government to allow him to enter that country. Hassan remains hopeful about his case. “Dignity, human rights, love, peace, a place to work and be legal is all what I’m asking for,” he said, echoing the wish of tens of thousands of refugees from Syria and elsewhere. Still, his case has spotlighted the grim situation. Click here to seehis story.