DanielYKL

Munich 1972, Germany. This is the year of the Munich Olympic and that’s why we want to be there, to witness the Olympic. Yes, we witnessed our Malaysian football team lost to the Germans on the opening day. And apart from that, we also get to watched some of the heats and qualifying fields and tracks events. These are the only tickets that we could afford at that moment.

I worked as a kitchen helper in a famous Argentina’s restaurant called “Churassco Steakhause.” My job is to help out to do whatever needs to be done in the kitchen, from peeling potatoes to cleaning up the kitchen. In other words, I do everything. After 6 months as a kitchen hand, I was promoted as a cook. I worked from 9.30am till 6.30pm, preparing and cooking all the different salads and soups for the restaurant. Life was never a dull moment here. For the next two years or so, it was work in the daytime and partying in the evening until I was caught for working without a permit. The police came and raid our restaurant. Three of us were arrested for working illegally without a working permit. And for the first time in my life I get to ride in a BMW, a police car and first time too being handcuffed. I was remanded in the Munich Prison for 4 months before they deported me out of Germany.

The German prison compared with the one in Malaysia is like a “five star hotel.” We were put in cell with a single bed and a double decker beds. The cell also contains a cupboard, a table and two benches. At the far end is the toilet and washing basin, which is half-covered by a brick wall. There is also a heater to warm up the cell during winter. They served you 4 meals per day. Breakfast consists of varieties of bread and buns with cheese, butter, jam, pate’ and sausages, cereals and milk, with either coffee, tea or chocolate. For lunch or dinner they served you either roast beef, pork, chicken steaks, or sausages, or spaghetti, with pastas, rice, and soup. And during tea time, you get to eat sweet bun or cakes with coffee, tea or chocolate. You get to bath once a day in a common shower with hot water. You were allowed to go for walks at the courtyard for an hour per day. You can purchase cigarettes and tobacco from the money you have when you were arrested. Once a week, a doctor will see you if you have any complain of illness. You were also allowed you own a small transistor radio. You can borrow magazines or books from the library once a week. I shared a cell with an Algerian, who was in for picked- pocket, and a Nigerian, who was arrested for robbery. It was in the middle of the cold winter, when they deported me out of Germany to Austria.