KUALA LUMPUR – Ever since the civil war began in his home country, 54-year-old Syrian refugee Sulaiman (not his real name) has faced challenges trying to provide a normal life for his family here in Malaysia.
Despite these challenges, he has never lost hope of finding a permanent home for his family in another country.
Sulaiman, his wife and five daughters come from the minority Shia community in Hama, Syria, where he operated his own restaurant while his spouse ran a beauty salon.
“Things weren’t so bad before the war. But we didn’t have freedom and we couldn’t criticise the government,” Sulaiman told Scoop.
In 2011, before protests erupted into a civil war in Syria, Sulaiman admitted to taking to the streets to rally against dictator Bashar Al-Assad.
When the war erupted, Sulaiman said Al-Qaeda-linked militants began getting closer to his city. Given that his family is of the Shia faith, Sulaiman knew the situation in his town would not be safe for long.
“A relative also told us that Syrian security agencies were aware that I joined the protests.
“That’s when I decided it was time we leave Syria,” Sulaiman added.
Fearing for their safety, Sulaiman and his family fled to Malaysia in 2013, paying US$9,000 for flight tickets and leaving everything behind.
To get to Malaysia, Sulaiman took a bus with his family to Lebanon before flying directly to Malaysia.
“We have not been out of Syria before. We didn’t know anybody in Malaysia and we didn’t speak the language.
“Anywhere was better than Syria. We didn’t have a choice,” Sulaiman explained.
However, while Malaysia was indeed safer than war-torn Syria, Sulaiman immediately faced challenges here.
Sulaiman and his family arrived in Malaysia and were given a 90-day pass.
But a lawyer in Masjid Jamek promised Sulaiman that he could set up a food and beverage company and obtain a long-term visa for them.
“We paid him US$5,000 for his fees. But after eight months there was still nothing.
“Given that we have overstayed our visa, we decided it’s time to get our refugee cards from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),” Sulaiman added.
Even applying for refugee documentation took a long time for Sulaiman and his family as he explains that they only obtained their UNHCR cards two years later.
Throughout that time, his children could not attend school and Sulaiman made shawarmas at his home and sold them for money.
Further, even when Sulaiman was able to open his own shawarma stall later, he claimed that he faced jealousy and was sabotaged by competitors.
“One time we opened a stall at a bazaar with the help of a local man.
“But the other local stall operators told him that he does not want us here.
“Then when I opened an outlet in Bukit Bintang, other Syrians started spreading rumours that I was a Christian and my food wasn’t halal,” Sulaiman added.
Despite these hardships, Sulaiman remains grateful for Malaysia’s safety but highlights the lack of legal rights and systemic barriers refugees face.
“My daughter wishes to become a doctor or work in information technology.
“But what choice do we have? We can’t have dreams,” Sulaiman mentions.
When asked if Malaysia should have better policies in place for refugees, Sulaiman replied in the negative and explained that he understood the country’s predicament.
“Malaysia is a small country with bigger nations nearby such as Indonesia, India, and Bangladesh. If you have loose border policies, your local population might become minorities,” Sulaiman said.
This is why Sulaiman said the only hope left for his family is for the UNHCR to relocate his family to a third nation such as New Zealand or Australia.
Returning home to Syria, Sulaiman says is not an option for his Shia family given that Sunni rebels have taken hold of his country from Bashar.
“We need the UNHCR to take us to another country so that we can have rights.
“I feel like we have lost our lives here. There’s no future here,” he added.
The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011, began as a peaceful uprising against Bashar’s authoritarian rule during the wave of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world, known as the Arab Spring.
Bashar reacted to these rallies by cracking down on protestors violently, leading to the formation of armed militants who fought against government troops.
Early this month, the rebels led by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa captured the Syrian capital of Damascus and ousted Bashar who fled to Moscow. – January 2, 2025