...he's a refugee - he alleges that (aged 2) he overheard a telephone call to his father '..get out now, the police are coming' - so the was a precocious two-year-old.
Now, this claim has been removed from his Wiki page.
Edited Wiki
But the SCMP story still has it:
NV SCMP I was born in Sri Lanka in 1958 when the civil war broke out. I was two or three when the civil war got worse and my family was targeted. We had to flee in the night.
My dad got this call from the chief of police, who said, “I’ve been ordered by the prime minister to arrest you—better make sure you’re not home.” My dad said, “Put your shoes on, children, we’re going out.”
The reason why we were thrown out was because my father wrote a column. I remember thinking, “Wow, dad wrote something in the newspapers and now we’re being chased by men with guns—this is so cool!”
In a sense, that influenced me and I thought: “I’m going to do what dad does—cause trouble.”
So, refugee, fleeing persecution to the UK, where he is safe & secure, moves to HKG - earns a living writing and enjoying the freedoms that HKG had - but now...?
Interesting.